Uk Schools To Declare Intolerance Of Staff Abuse By Pupils Through Posters

Uk Schools To Declare Intolerance Of Staff Abuse By Pupils Through Posters

By Gavin Mackintosh-

Schools in the Uk where staff have been subjected to abuse by pupils have been encouraged to put up union posters stating their intolerance of abuse to pupils, parents and visitors.

Teaching union NASUWT has produced two posters they recommend schools use to strengthen an ongoing campaign to support teachers and heads in addressing nuisance and unruly school pupils. The union said the posters are designed “to make a public statement on the expectation of how staff should be treated by pupils, parents and visitors to school sites”, the union added. Bad behaviour in schools has long been a problem beyond staff in many schools across the country.

Successive British governments have failed to put a system in place to successfully address bad behaviour in every school in the Uk, leaving it to individual schools to set up their own rules and strategies for dealing with the growing problem. Some of the best secondary schools in the Uk have a zero tolerance to bad behaviour, from their pupils. They stress their tough policy on behaviour and manners regularly in their school assemblies until it registers with every child. Strong schools with high academic success rates usually emphasise the importance of acceptable behaviour with both parents and pupils, laying down quite clearly the consequences of breaching their policies.

Secondary school pupils in particular, can be very unruly to other pupils and to staff in schools. Their bad behaviour is made worse by the fact a number of parents are confrontational with school staff when a child complaints about them. Recently, The Eye Of Media.Com heard of a parent in a London school(we won’t name) who confronted a teacher for telling her son who smashed a window in a violent rage of anger that he could have gone to prison if he had done that at an  older age.

The parent said ” I don’t appreciate you telling my son that he could have gone to prison if he had smashed the window as an older boy”. The parent in this case failed to recognise that the teacher was right in telling the child off for his bad behaviour which potentially reflected bad training or indiscipline at home. Verbal and insensitive abuse from children in many Uk schools are common, but many schools have strict school leadership. An NASUWT survey, 57 per cent of teachers have been subjected to verbal abuse by a pupil in the past year.  27 per cent claimed to have been verbally abused by parents or carers. Fourteen per cent of teachers reported having been assaulted by pupils, while 2 per cent were attacked by a parent or carer. NASUWT general secretary, Chris Keates said in a statement:

 

“All teachers and headteachers are entitled to a safe working environment free from violence and abuse. Employers have a legal duty of care to provide this,” said Chris Keates, NASUWT’s general secretary.

“The NASUWT believes that those who employ teachers and headteachers should also be prepared to make such a clear commitment to the safety and dignity of their staff.”

 

 

Spread the news