The ACT is considering raising the bar on what students can be suspended for.

The proposed changes would make suspensions a tool of last resort, only for times when other methods such as restorative justice are exhausted.

The Government is also seeking to redefine suspensions as a tool primarily for cases of violence or safety issues.

The Parents and Citizens Council has backed the plan.

“People still see suspension as a really clear, serious message. I think we recognise now though that sometimes, in a small number of instances, suspension is not actually supporting behavioural change in some students,” the council’s policy director Veronica Elliott said.

“It's really important that before those students disengage from school completely to look for other ways to engage with them.”

But ACT Principals Association head Michael Battenally says suspensions are an effective way to manage behaviour.

“In a civil society there are limitations with a school about what punitive measures you have in play to set the tone, set the culture of expectations,” he said.

“It is a concern if that does raise, we lessen the capacity of principals to suspend.”

Mr Battenally said if an offender is not adequately punished, it can be a disservice to the victim.

“Suspension is not just about the offender, it's about victims,” he said.

“If you had a child at school and that child was in a situation where they were assaulted … you would expect and would hope their needs were being met through the outcome as much as the student who was the offender.”