Clarke wants to take indiscipline out of the classroom

Charles Clarke has pledged tough action on discipline to allow teachers to "walk tall".

In a wide-ranging speech the education secretary detailed new plans to combat unruly behaviour in the classroom.

"Head teachers face many tough challenges, and I want to ensure that every head has the means to tackle bad behaviour and raise standards in our schools," he said.

The education secretary said he would consider giving head teachers new powers to combat the carrying of knives in schools.

The government also wants to develop new agreements between heads and local police to allow schools to demand unannounced police searches to "detect and deter knives".

"Most pupils never carry knives, either in or out of school. But there are a few who ignore the fact that it is against the law to have a knife in school. This unacceptable, and no school should tolerate it," said Clarke.

He also announced a new plan to spread the allocation of expelled and excluded pupils around schools - rather than leave them in so-called "sink schools".

"While standards of behaviour are generally good in the vast majority of schools, I fully back heads in tackling poor behaviour and enforcing discipline in the classroom," added Clarke.

"I expect head teachers to promote good behaviour in their schools, but where they judge it necessary, they have every right to exercise permanent exclusion.

"However when excluded children are deemed ready to be readmitted to a new school, it is important that heads do not have to take more than their fair share of challenging or excluded pupils, simply because they have places available."

Clarke also detailed plans to limit the number of excluded children that each school would have to admit.

The government is also setting out a statement which details a zero tolerance approach to bullying and verbal or physical abuse against staff.