“The boost to the number of behaviour specialists will mean more schools will benefit from these experts who can provide advice to teachers, coordinate resources and build the capacity of schools to manage challenging and complex student behaviour,” Mitchell said.

“Our overall approach will help embed our recent inclusive, engaging and respectful schools reforms in public schools, and share best practice across systems so that all schools can adopt strategies that have been proven to work well.”

The government will also launch the state’s first cross-sector school respect awards, to recognise students who have shown high standards of respectful behaviour, inclusiveness and community mindedness.

Each school in NSW will present a Premier’s Respect Award to a student who exemplifies respectful behaviour, then an expert panel will select the top 10 who will be presented with their awards by the premier at an annual respect award showcase.

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Dallas McInerney, chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW, said the introduction of the awards hit the appropriate balance.

“There are great things happening in our schools every day and these awards will give respectful behaviour the same high regard and prestige as academic achievement,” McInerney said.

Geoff Newcombe, head of the Association of Independent Schools of NSW, welcomed a collaborative approach to addressing behaviour in schools.

“To tackle these issues head on, we need a strong, cross-sector approach which supports schools to hold students to a high standard,” Newcombe said.

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