06/08/07 - Schools Need New Powers To Restore Classroom Discipline

Schools need new powers to restore classroom discipline
– Deborah Dunleavy

Deborah Dunleavy, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Bolton north East this week backed calls for new powers for school head teachers to restore classroom discipline and impose proper codes of behaviour.

Conservative leader, David Cameron, has outlined a series of measures to restore respect among hard-to-teach children. The action plan includes:

·         An end to appeals panels overruling expulsions, second-guessing head teachers’ decisions to exclude pupils. Since 1997, in Bolton, the number of permanent exclusions from secondary schools has fallen by 60% – not because of better discipline, but since it is more difficult to exclude troublemakers.  Parents should still have a right of appeal to school governors.

·         Making home-school contracts enforceable, as requirements of admission and grounds for exclusion.

·         Protecting teachers from spurious allegations, giving them anonymity until the case against them has been concluded.

·         An end to closures of Special Schools, which provide expert teaching for those with learning difficulties. Laws passed by the Government are pressuring town halls to close them down

Miss Dunleavy said:

“Schools should be places where teachers teach and children learn - not holding centres for kids no matter how badly they behave. Most of all, they should be places where the kids respect the teachers.

I have first hand knowledge of this as I have a sister who works in a school specifically for children with behavioural problems, and it’s excellent. This is because the teachers and facilities and the lessons are all geared to children with behavioural problems. In main stream school this causes disruption to classmates.

How can this be productive? Surely for the good of the pupils don’t we owe to them to provide the best education for all?

“If we want our children to grow up in a loving environment, they need to know they mustn’t step over the line. Heads need to be able to impose real codes of behaviour and discipline - and be backed up by parents.” 

CONSERVATIVE ACTION PLAN ON SCHOOL DISCIPLINE

·         An end to appeals panels overruling expulsions: Conservatives want to see an end to appeals panels second-guessing head teachers’ decisions to exclude pupils. Local education authorities should be there to serve schools, not the other way around. However, parents should still have the right of appeal against exclusions to school governors.

·         Home-school contracts: Many schools have home-school contracts, setting out in black and white what is expected of the school, the child and the parent. These could be made enforceable, as requirements of admission and grounds for exclusion. Head teachers should be able to say to parents: ‘if you do not sign up to this code of conduct for yourselves and for your children, your child cannot come to this school’.

·         Protecting teachers from spurious allegations: We should protect teachers from the tiny minority who are bent on undermining authority in schools by making allegations of abuse against them. Teachers must have the protection of full anonymity until the case against them has been dealt with.

·         Less reliance on Pupil Referral Units: Conservatives want to see less reliance on the use of Pupil Referral Units. Independent providers should have a right to supply education to children excluded from school. This will require a new relationship between the statutory sector – state schools and local authorities – and the voluntary and social enterprise sector. When it comes to dealing with excluded children, we want to trust the voluntary sector with more resources, more responsibility, longer contracts and more freedom.

·         An end to closures of Special Schools: We will stop the closure of schools for children with Special Educational Needs (SENs). The Government’s Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 introduced a presumption for educating children with special needs in mainstream schools. This has placed pressure on town halls to close special schools.