By Sheila Mckenzie-
The British government still has no answer to the problems of indiscipline in schools.A recently leaked government document reveals no new plans to address indiscipline, despite the prime minister’s recent announcement to address an issue affecting voting parents in the Uk.
The government says in the leaked paper it will back heads “to use powers to promote good behaviour including sanctions and rewards, using reasonable force, to search and confiscate items from pupils (including mobile phones), impose same-day detentions, suspend and expel pupils, ban mobile phones”.
Existing guidance on behaviour already permits, among other things, the use of reasonable force “to prevent pupils committing an offence, injuring themselves or others, or damaging property, and to maintain good order and discipline in the classroom”. Suspension and expulsion are also in the gift of headteachers, and it is already up to leaders whether they ban mobile phones.
However, critics say those provisions have always been in place. Secondary school teacher, Andy Hall told The Eye Of Media.Com:
” these powers have been available to schools for a while, but they do not properly address issues of persistent bad behaviour by some children. Good schools will suspend or expel for serious infringements of school rules, but there are more minor but consistent displays of bad behaviour that schools have no answer for. There also seem to be no clear assistant for helping teachers who are subjected to abuse or confrontation by nuisance parents”.
The Eye Of Media.Com has in past times communicated with the Department Of Education with respect to addressing bad behaviour in schools which constitutes one of the big headaches in many Uk secondary schools. The Department’s guidelines do not sufficiently address how schools can efefctively discipline pupils who are disruptive enough for punishment, but do not meet the criteria for suspension or expulsion.
The problem of indiscipline in schools has not stopped many other schools adopting a very strict policy against indiscipline, including long periods of isolation for misbehaving pupils, and in some extreme cases, suspension or expulsions. Such hard line measures have worked in some schools that have a zero tolerance to bad behaviour, but it also means that pupils expelled for bad behaviour may struggle to find suitable schools who would accept them, potentially exposing them to street life which can lead to a criminal lifestyle.
Advocates of a zero tolerance regime say it is the best way to guarantee a standard of behaviour in schools that want to maintain a strong atmosphere for academic development. The British government have to find the best way to make indiscipline in schools difficult. Pupils need to respect the authority of the school, including understanding that there will be consequences for very rude behaviour, and those consequences must be enough of a deterrent to other pupils.