The three main political parties have been fighting it out over which has the most effective policies to tackle indiscipline in schools.

In a keynote speech to a secondary heads conference in Blackpool, Ruth Kelly pledged tougher action on insolence and backchat in schools.

Since taking over as education secretary, Kelly has spoken of the need to do more to support head teachers and crack down on unruly pupils.

"Every pupil and every teacher has the right to expect a safe, secure and orderly classroom, so that teaching and learning can flourish," she said.

"Any poor behaviour is too much and should not be tolerated. We need to re-draw the line on what is acceptable."

She said getting behaviour right in schools must be founded on a "zero tolerance" approach.

She outlined plans to use local authority directors to review schools where behaviour is rated as unsatisfactory by Ofsted, and arrange follow-up visits to ensure improvement is underway.

Local authorities will use parenting orders to reinforce parents' responsibility for dealing with their child's bad behaviour.

Schools will also pool expertise in new "Foundation Partnerships", with resources being devolved to their control from the local authority to enable the removal of disruptive pupils from classrooms.

"Good schools already have a strong school ethos and a policy on behaviour that's respected by the whole school community because it's clear, consistent and rigorously applied," Kelly added.

"This approach must be in every school with any level of bad behaviour dealt with promptly and appropriately.

"Equally, pupils who lack respect for themselves, respect for their classmates, and respect for their teachers need to be made to take responsibility for their own actions."

Responsibility

In response to the speech, Conservative leader Michael Howard and shadow education secretary Tim Collins have reaffirmed their intention to take action on school discipline.

The Tories would allow head teachers to have the final say over the exclusion of misbehaving pupils.

Their plans also include giving schools the money and power to introduce CCTV, random drug testing and metal detectors.

The Conservatives would abandon government plans to force all state schools to take their share of unruly children.

"On our first day in office we will set out plans to return responsibility for discipline to schools," Collins said.

"It is time for a wholly different approach.    One which trusts head teachers. One which puts power where it belongs, back to schools." 

"Labour’s approach to school discipline has shown, zero interest not zero tolerance," he added. 

Michael Howard has criticised the current lack of discipline in schools saying it "is a real and growing problem."  

"Our whole education system lacks ambition," Howard said. 

Empty rhetoric

Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats have warned against "empty rhetoric" on the issue.

"Labour has had nearly eight years to tackle school discipline and this latest piece of empty rhetoric will do little to solve the problem," said spokesman Phil Willis.

"School discipline is a complex issue which deserves a mature response, not a competition between Labour and Conservatives as to who can sound the toughest.

"Prevention is always better than cure, which is why the Liberal Democrats support smaller class sizes, reducing teacher workload and improvements to the secondary curriculum.

"We have to create a situation where children want to be in school and tackle bad behaviour before it starts," he added.