School discipline
An official working group led by Sir Alan Steer has recommended that teachers be given a "clear and unambiguous legal right" to discipline pupils.
Other proposals include extending the use of parenting contracts, making parents take responsibility for excluded pupils in the first five days of a suspension, and tightening up procedures of exclusion appeal panels.
"Contrary to what is often said, most schools are orderly places that for some children provide the stability and security they don't have in the rest of their lives," Sir Alan said.
"But we also know that a small minority of unruly pupils can make life very difficult for teachers and do real damage to the learning and attainment of other pupils in a class.
"The changes that we have recommended strengthen the authority of schools, giving them the confidence to take action and send a clear message to parents and pupils that they also have a responsibility in dealing with the problem."
Stakeholder Response: NUT
"It has taken a practical approach to improving behaviour rather than throwing its collective hands in the air in despair. I particularly welcome the group and the government’s recognition that parents accepting their responsibilities is crucial to good discipline in our schools.
"I am especially delighted that the government accepts the group's recognition of the need for teachers to have a statutory right to discipline pupils rather than leaving it to the vagaries of ancient and modern case law.
"This is a proposal for which the NUT pressed long and hard. It will aid teachers in tackling persistent low level disruption which is too often met with 'you can't do anything to me, miss'. This will help put a stop to that.
"It will also help combat false allegations against teachers who can end up in court for responding sensibly in difficult situations. But this must be coupled with clear national guidance on restraining pupils and on how allegations against teachers should be handled.
"In addition, the group accepts that pastoral care is integral to teachers' work. It has rightly urged that teachers' responsibilities for pastoral work should continue to attract additional salary.
"The government had the courage to set up the Steer group which has made many very welcome proposals. So far, the government has responded positively to many aspects but there is still work to be done in the ministerial group.
"I hope that issues not taken up by the government at this stage will be adopted when the ministerial group reports. These include national guidance on physical restraint, a charter on pupil behaviour and classroom teacher representation on independent appeals panels."
Stakeholder Response: NASUWT
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "The group has made a valiant effort to address a complex issue in a short period of time.
"It has been prolific in its output and among the eighty or so recommendations there are a number which NASUWT would support.
"When considering these it must be remembered that the vast majority of schools exhibit the good practice the Report identifies.
"The reinforcement of parents' responsibility for their child's behaviour is crucial.
"The establishment in all schools of a post for a pupil/parent support worker is welcome, entirely consistent with the enhanced roles which NASUWT has promoted for support staff and timely, given that schools are currently reviewing their staffing structures.
"Although NASUWT will continue to question the value of or need for independent appeals panels, whilst they continue to exist, further tightening of the procedures to avoid pupils being inappropriately reinstated on technicalities will be helpful.
"The call for a national behaviour framework within which all schools should operate and dialogue with the profession about what this might look like is an option which merits further consideration.
"The report highlights correctly the association between behaviour, exclusions and special educational needs (SEN). This is an important issue which merits attention. The recommendation that the SEN code of practice should be streamlined in a manner which reduces the bureaucracy associated with the statementing process is particularly important. The current system is often a barrier to enabling youngsters access to the support they need, exacerbating the problems of misbehaviour.
"Whilst there are a number of positive proposals, I have a deep sense of unease about the underlying tone of the Report.
"It is undoubtedly a management-focused report, reflecting, not surprisingly, the composition of the group. Glaringly absent is appropriate recognition of the fundamental importance and difficulties of being in the classroom teaching.
"The subliminal message appears to be that at the root of the problems is the effectiveness of the classroom teacher, hence the overemphasis on school leaders checking and monitoring them.
"Clearly, effective teaching is important but as Ofsted observed there are a few pupils in virtually all schools who disrupt the education of the majority of pupils and undermine their own through un-cooperative and antisocial behaviour. These pupils present a real challenge even to the most competent teachers in the best organised schools.
"Constant challenges to authority, persistent refusal to obey school rules and frequent, regular verbal abuse of staff are the hallmarks of this behaviour. Its effects are corrosive and debilitating and when sustained over a long period can have a devastating impact on the health and welfare of teachers. The report completely understates the impact of such behaviour.
"Teachers who are verbally abused on a regular basis will be dismayed that in the report zero tolerance is reserved only for mobile phones.
"The report focuses very heavily on the need for further reviews of the problem, more research, more advice and information for schools and parents and more training. It offers few practical suggestions for schools and even less for teachers.
"In some places the report requires a reality check. For example, it emphasises the need for behaviour policies and rules but does not seem to grasp that many of those youngsters who misbehave are well aware of the rules and deliberately flout them.
"The report highlights the need for improved behaviour management training in ITT provision which has been highlighted for a number of years by student teachers but then fails to make recommendations to address it. There is a real need to consider not only the standards of initial teacher training but also the quality of its delivery.
"NASUWT looks forward to engaging in the ministerial group in detailed consideration of the report's recommendations but will be seeking to ensure that the outcomes empower and support teachers and headteachers not burden and blame those who day after day are in the classroom, in the front line."
Stakeholder Response: ATL
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of ATL, said: "The Steer report is an essential first step in rebalancing the equation between the individual rights of each pupil and the collective rights of the school community.
"It is essential that parents, carers, and society in general support schools in achieving good behaviour so that all pupils can benefit from their education.
"We are particularly pleased the report clearly recommends schools have the right to discipline pupils when their behaviour is unacceptable."
Ralph Surman, ATL's member on the Steer working group and deputy head of a
"Teachers, support staff and students alike all need to see improvements in behaviour in schools so they can give and get the best out of education. It will be a tragedy if Steer's recommendations are not implemented more rigorously than those in the Elton report (1989). Teaching, learning and pupil behaviour are all inter-linked – if one of these fails they are all affected."
Stakeholder Response: SHA
Dr
"SHA has repeatedly stated that appeals panels should be retained in order to avoid parents taking action against schools in court, but that the powers of appeals panels to overturn exclusions should be limited. I am delighted that the report recommends this.
"It is about time that we see a better balance between the rights and responsibilities of parents. I am pleased that the government response to the report acknowledges this. With the active support of parents, schools have a good chance of dealing with ill disciplined young people.
"Schools and parents must work together to improve a child's behaviour. Schools that already employ home school workers have found them invaluable in dealing with difficult children.
"These people have been employed mostly in inner city areas, where there is additional funding for behaviour management. SHA welcomes the report’s recommendation for pupil parent support workers. Additional funding to employ more staff like this should be a priority for the government.
"There is a lot in this report about parents’ responsibilities that I hope is repeated in next week’s white paper. In particular, I want to see proposals for home school workers, who have a wider role to play than supporting behaviour."
Stakeholder Response: PAT
PAT general secretary
"We look to the government to play its part by quickly and unequivocally accepting and resourcing the recommendations of the practitioners' group, and by giving all possible support to schools, which the group has recommended should review their own policies and audit the behaviour of their pupils.
"PAT looks forward to contributing to the creation of a National Charter of Rights and Responsibilities and will play a full part in establishing and promoting it.
"We strongly support the group's recommendation that the government should clarify, through new legislation, the right of schools to discipline pupils.
"We believe that parents must understand their duties and responsibilities regarding the behaviour of their children. We would welcome assurances that any new powers will not conflict with any existing or new legislation.
"We back the creation of pupil parent support workers. We believe that this system will be a powerful tool as a point of liaison between schools, parents and external agencies and will be of considerable benefit to those schools that have not had the benefits of being part of the Excellence in Cities initiative.
"What is good for pupils is good for staff and will enhance the opportunities for effective teaching and learning to take place.
"Poor pupil behaviour is a major concern for teachers and we know that many have left the profession because of it.
"Exclusions, bullying and violence tend to grab the headlines, but the daily incidents of insolence, backchat, talking out of turn, rowdy behaviour, 'messing about', refusal to obey instructions and name-calling also have a disruptive effect on children's education and on the smooth running of schools.
"Disruptive behaviour sometimes occurs as the result of specific pupils’ emotional or other special education needs. It is essential that these pupils receive the appropriate support in terms of specialist teachers and teaching assistants, tuition time, equipment and other resources. Disruptive behaviour isn’t necessarily 'bad' behaviour that warrants a punitive outcome.
"We hope that in the future the issue of the curriculum will also be addressed so that disaffected pupils can be engaged fully by appropriate subjects and teaching methods.
"Disruptive behaviour isn't a problem that schools can tackle alone. The government, local authorities, schools, parents and the wider community need to work in partnership.
"Schools and teachers need the support of parents to deal with pupils' behaviour. All too often parents resort to threats, violence or legal action when any aspect of their children’s behaviour is challenged.
"However, we must not forget that the majority of young people lead responsible, balanced lives. Most young people work hard and play hard."
Stakeholder Response: LGA
Cllr Alison King, chairman of the LGA children and young people board, said: "This report shows the government is tackling an important issue, but it could do more to recognise that bad behaviour doesn’t stop at the school gates.
"Behaviour in schools cannot be treated in isolation. Children and young people are badly behaved in their homes and communities, not just in the classroom.
"If we’re going to deal with antisocial behaviour, then as well as focusing on what happens in schools, we must work with police and social services as well.
"We are also disappointed that only teachers were invited to put this report together, ignoring the huge role local authorities play in supporting schools to tackle bad behaviour."
Stakeholder Response: ACE
Chris Gravell, policy officer of the Advisory Centre for Education (ACE), said: "ACE welcomes this thoughtful and comprehensive report, especially its recommendations for more pastoral and home-school support.
"ACE was dismayed, however, that the secretary of state's press release cherry-picked the report for punitive measures against pupils and parents, out of over seventy recommendations overwhelmingly about school, pupil and parent support, and think that this is unfair on the authors.
"We do not believe there is any necessity for more legislation on discipline and restraint, as teachers already have powers here. Perhaps existing guidance should be more widely promulgated.
"On appeals for exclusions, we agree with the practitioners' group that appeal panels need more training, but our wide experience of advising parents does not show any bias in favour of pupils (far from it) or frequent instances of pupils getting off on technicalities.
"ACE's greatest concern in exclusions is the incredible over-representation of pupils with special needs/disabilities in the figures (two-thirds of expulsions are of pupils with special educational needs), and here we are disappointed that the report has not discussed that issue.
"We therefore hope that the ministerial group on behaviour will make it a priority to investigate further, and that it seeks expert views from practitioners in this field, including those representing parents and children.
"It is now a widely held view that it is entirely inappropriate to use the most punitive sanctions in a school's armoury against children whose behaviour difficulties arise from special needs/disabilities."
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