Memorandum submitted by NASUWT
— The NASUWT has considerable experience
of dealing with behaviour and attendance issues in school through
its casework.
— The NASUWT has extensive experience of
providing high quality guidance and resources for schools on managing
pupil behaviour, including a joint leaflet with the former Department
for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) on the rights and entitlements
of classroom teachers with regard to pupil behaviour.
— The Select Committee review of behaviour
and discipline needs to recognise at the outset that schools are
safe havens of calm and security and the vast majority of schools
do not have serious or endemic behaviour issues.
— Ofsted has shown that in a large majority
of schools behaviour is managed effectively.
— The problem of "low level disruption"
is a significant factor that blights learning, as highlighted
by an NASUWT survey in March 2009 that found that, on average,
teachers lost 30 minutes of teaching time each day as a result
of low level disruption.
— A major feature of schools that experience
poor behaviour is the failure of school leadership to consistently
support the professional expertise and judgement of classroom
practitioners.
— The review needs to recognise the effect
that external influences have on a child's behaviour within school
and that schools working alone cannot solve all problems of poor
behaviour and indiscipline.
— Collaborative working between schools
and other agencies is key to tackling problems of poor pupil behaviour.
The decision to remove the requirement for Behaviour and Attendance
Partnerships is a fundamentally retrograde development.
— There are serious concerns about the
likely effects of funding cuts upon behaviour support and special
educational needs (SEN).
— An important factor for fostering good
behaviour is through an engaging curriculum. The Government should
consider this in the forthcoming curriculum review.
— Low level disruption has a cumulative
effect that can be very stressful for the teacher and can impact
upon overall teaching and learning experiences.
— All children should attend school ready
to learn. Parents and carers need to be equipped to support their
child when they experience behaviour issues.
— Access to high quality alternative provision
is critical; however, more work is needed to ensure better access
to and better quality of alternative provision. Funding cuts risk
damaging this important sector.
— Poor behaviour and truancy are strongly
linked and require coherent strategies to address these problems.
— The NASUWT believes that wide variations
in the reporting and recording of information about allegations
made by pupils about teachers should be tackled urgently.
BACKGROUND AND
CONTEXT
1. The NASUWT has consistently been at the
forefront of campaigns concerning issues of pupil behaviour and
discipline in schools. The NASUWT has developed considerable experience
of dealing with behaviour and attendance issues in schools through
individual and collective casework. Its activities in this area
reflect the high priority given to these issues by classroom teachers
and the challenges faced by school leaders.
2. The Union has produced high quality guidance
on behaviour management for its members. It has also been successful
in obtaining amendments to national guidance on behaviour; including
securing a landmark victory in the House of Lords, "P v NASUWT",
that established the right of teachers, with the support of their
union, to refuse to teach violent and disruptive pupils. Most
recently, the DCSF issued a joint leaflet with the NASUWT on the
rights and entitlements of classroom teachers with regard to pupil
behaviour. This guidance has been highly regarded by schools and
welcomed widely.
3. Schools are relative safe havens of calm
and security, providing an orderly and well-developed environment
that is immensely beneficial to young people.
4. The Select Committee's review of behaviour
and discipline in schools must be set in a context in which there
is clear recognition of the fact that behaviour in schools is
generally rated as good or outstanding. The vast majority of schools
do not have serious or endemic behaviour problems. Ofsted has
demonstrated that the vast majority of schools are providing an
acceptable level of education and 70% are good or outstanding
and there is further evidence of sustained improvement in schools
over the past four years.[35]
Furthermore, Ofsted reports that "figures indicate that the
very large majority of schools manage behaviour well and engage
pupils effectively".[36]
5. Nevertheless, serious behaviour and discipline
issues are a problem for teachers in a very small minority of
schools and minor but significant behaviour issues are experienced
by many teachers within schools. Teachers cannot teach and pupils
cannot learn if there is not a well-ordered environment within
the school. In March 2009, the NASUWT conducted a survey of members
over one week and received 10,259 responses both from teachers
and headteachers. The key finding of the survey was that the problem
of "low level disruption of lessons" was a concern for
teachers in their attempts to deliver high quality teaching and
learning experiences to their pupils. Additionally, the survey
found that two thirds of teachers had reported that 30 minutes
or longer was lost as a result of pupil indiscipline or poor behaviour.
The loss of teaching and learning time is strongly related to
the original capacity within schools to deliver support to the
classroom teacher when it is needed.
Supporting and reinforcing positive behaviour
in schools
6. A key issue when examining pupil behaviour
and indiscipline in schools is the nature of support given to
classroom teachers. The NASUWT has found that a major feature
of schools that experience poor behaviour is that they do not
consistently support the professional expertise and judgement
of classroom practitioners. In the March 2009 survey, a small
majority of teachers said that they lacked confidence about whether
they would receive swift support when referring a disruptive pupil
to school management (61%) and a larger majority of teachers said
that they lacked confidence about whether they would receive timely
feedback about a pupil when they were returned to the class (71%).
One in five teachers (21%) stated that there were no mechanisms
for the withdrawal of poorly behaved pupils from classrooms.
7. Although an overwhelming majority of
teachers reported that their school did have a behaviour policy
(93%), it is clear that schools need to be better geared towards
supporting teachers in the classroom in managing pupil behaviour
and must therefore be in touch with and supportive of classroom
practice. This will require workforce changes in schools ensuring
that all school leaders have a genuine commitment to an engagement
with the classroom and the demands of classroom teaching.
8. There must be a greater recognition of
the effect that a child's life outside of school has on their
attitudes to learning and in their relationships with others in
school. The relationship between outside experiences and behaviour
in school is well established, for example, the NASUWT has commissioned
a major piece of research and subsequent toolkit concerning gangs
and schools.
9. A key component of support for behaviour
must involve greater collaboration and a shared responsibility
between schools and other bodies within the local community. This
support should be a genuine attempt to share ideas, expertise
and resources to ensure that all members within a school feel
supported. School Behaviour and Attendance Partnerships, designed
to address the underlying problems leading to poor behaviour and
attendance in schools, emerged following an expert review led
by Sir Alan Steer and have begun to make a significant impact
in improving behaviour and attendance. The Coalition Government's
decision to revoke the requirement for such partnerships is therefore
a regrettable and retrograde step that will harm developments
to encourage cross-community support for schools in managing behaviour.
10. Furthermore, the ability of schools
to pursue collaborative links will be more difficult following
the passage of the Academies Act 2010. Academies and free schools
are under no obligation to collaborate with local schools in their
areas. There is a real issue that the Government's academies policy
could lead to the concentration of behaviour problems in particular
schools. Evidence from academy schools to date demonstrates that
academies are far less likely to collaborate with other local
schools, were more likely to exclude pupils and less likely to
admit pupils excluded from other schools.
11. Schools need support to be able to offer
early identification and intervention for pupils whose behaviour
is likely to escalate further. This must involve both support
and challenge for pupils and their families. This will only be
managed if services both within schools and within local authorities
are appropriately resourced, with effective levels of training.
12. Furthermore, there are factors related
to the presentment of poor behaviour, including particular special
education needs. It is important that in an atmosphere in which
cuts are touted for all major departments within Government that
recognition is given to the importance of resourcing appropriate
and effective SEN diagnosis, guidance and support.
13. A crucial aspect of encouraging good
behaviour within schools is to have a broad, balanced and engaging
curriculum in schools that is relevant to pupils' lives and offers
choice, as well as parity, between academic and vocational learning.
The NASUWT would be concerned by any attempt that would lead to
closing down pupils' choices and the narrowing of the curriculum
or over a prescription of curriculum and pedagogy. It is vital
that teachers are able to exercise their professional judgement
in relation to the teaching of a common curriculum entitlement
for pupils.
The nature and level of challenging behaviour
by pupils in schools, and the impact upon schools and their staff
14. There is a distinction to be made between
challenging behaviour in schools and low-level disruption, but
both occurrences can be to the detriment of learning within schools.
The impact of challenging and violent behaviour is more obvious
and overt and must be dealt with in an effective and supportive
manner for school staff who are witness to it. For example, the
NASUWT has reflected teacher and public concern about gangs and
the involvement of young people in violent crime within particular
areas by commissioning a study by Perpetuity Research and Consultancy
International (PRCI) Ltd on gangs and schools with a final report
published in 2009. Crucially, the study found that gang-related
behaviours originate in contexts outside schools. The research
found that schools need to work consistently and comprehensively
with the police, youth services and others to identify young people
at risk from gangs and in the delivery of effective preventative
measures. The NASUWT launched a toolkit for schools to use in
April 2010.
15. The NASUWT believes that schools should
operate a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of bullying, including
prejudice-related bullying. Schools must have in place effective
systems to ensure that there is accurate recording and reporting
of all forms of prejudice-related bullying against both pupils
and staff. We would expect the Government to insist on data collection
at school level and use the data to inform planning and decision
making and for policies and procedures to be developed in consultation
with workforce unions to tackle these problems.
16. The impact of low-level disruption,
because it is on a smaller scale, is more cumulative. Examples
of low-level disruption reported in the March 2009 survey included
lateness, refusal to listen to the teacher, unwillingness to engage
with the work, conduct within class and arrival without correct
equipment. Each of these examples taken on their own would be
profoundly frustrating but it is the very nature of the persistence
of this behaviour that is the problem. For many teachers it is
the unrelenting facet of these behaviours, together with the effect
that they have both on workload and on teaching and learning,
that leads to stress and ill health.
17. There is a need for schools therefore
to ensure that their behaviour policies accurately reflect the
impact of such behaviour problems upon all members of staff and
have effective procedures for dealing with it. However, having
a policy is not enough. Schools must be encouraged to act upon
an individual teacher's concerns and develop a consistent approach
to ensure that issues are identified. The policy therefore needs
to accurately reflect the best practice to be applied.
18. Of particular concern in recent years
has been the growth of the use of digital media within this context.
There is growing evidence of the use of digital equipment and
social networking sites by pupils in an inappropriate way to bully
and intimidate others. This phenomenon is referred to as "cyberbullying".
At an extreme level there are reported cases of students filming
each other in acts of anti-social behaviour within school, and
"acting up" to the camera, in order to later share this
information with their peers on YouTube or Facebook. Following
representations from the NASUWT, the DCSF had begun to revise
guidance to schools over this issue. However, schools have been
slow to act on this and more pressure still needs to be placed
by the Government on internet service providers (ISPs) to address
this problem.
Approaches taken by schools and local authorities
to address challenging behaviour, including the use of fixed term
and permanent exclusions
19. The NASUWT is concerned that targets,
official or unofficial, to reduce or inhibit the number of exclusions
within a school could have a detrimental effect on the ability
of that school to fulfil its obligations, in respect of teaching
and learning, to its pupils. Headteachers must be empowered to
exercise their professional judgement in the use of exclusion.
In the most severe cases, headteachers must be supported in excluding
the pupil permanently. Decisions to exclude a pupil must balance
the interests of the excluded pupil against the interests of all
the other members of the school community.
20. Furthermore, independent appeals panels
should not direct the reinstatement of a pupil where the disciplinary
process has been carried out without any procedural irregularities
of a kind that might have affected the fairness of the procedure.
The NASUWT welcomed the Secretary of State for Education's pre-election
pledge to abolish these panels and would urge the Government to
carry out this pledge.
21. The lodestones of good practice within
this area are consistency and collaboration. Schools that have
a good approach to addressing challenging behaviour apply the
rules consistently and appropriately and ensure that all people
involved in decisions about exclusions have current training,
up to and including school governors.
22. Collaboration through mechanisms such
as Children's Trusts are so important within this area because
of the need to support schools to make difficult decisions in
excluding pupils, including on a permanent basis, and ensuring
that those pupils are able to have a second chance in a new institution,
with appropriate communication between the two schools about the
nature and challenge of pre-existing behaviours and strategies
used. Schools that collaborate effectively and share information
openly are also able to avoid the stigma of permanent exclusions
for some students by using managed moves. These are only effective
when schools operate in an arena of trust and are appropriately
supported by the local authority. The NASUWT is extremely concerned
that managed moves in particular will be almost impossible to
operate in a marketised system of education where academies and
free schools are expected to compete against each other.
Ways of engaging parents and carers in managing
their children's challenging behaviour
23. Parents and carers have a key role in
ensuring that children attend school ready to learn. Engagement
of parents and carers in managing their children's behaviour is
therefore a crucial part of the overall picture in changing pupil
behaviour within schools. This engagement must, however, be placed
in a context in which parents and carers are given appropriate
support and feel empowered to make choices for their children.
This is a vital role for wider services for children and families,
particularly in terms of supporting families at greatest risk.
Support staff in schools can also play a crucial role in building
links between the school and home. The NASUWT is concerned that
budget cuts could undermine the provision of children and family
support services.
The efficacy of alternative provision for pupils
excluded from school because of their behaviour
24. Schools must have access to high quality
alternative provision as there are some instances in which it
may be appropriate to exclude a pupil temporarily from a mainstream
school and place them within this environment. A short spell in
an alternative provision setting can be mutually beneficial for
both the school and the pupil and can ensure that the pupil is
able to return to school ready and focused on learning and no
longer at risk of permanent exclusion. However, for too long,
alternative provision has been under-resourced, leading to a variable
quality of provision. Alternative provision needs to be a core
part of the overall education provision in every locality, run
by the local authority as part of a strategic overview of education
within that area and accountable to the local populace. Given
that 75% of pupils within pupil referral units (PRUs) are SEN,
they must be appropriately resourced, with the facility to retain
and recruit a high quality workforce. The NASUWT is extremely
concerned that proposed cuts following the Comprehensive Spending
Review (CSR) will further exacerbate this problem.
Links between behaviour and attendance in schools
25. There is an enormous amount of evidence
that links truancy to poor behaviour and anti social behaviour
both inside and outside of schools. Within schools this may be
as a result of the fact that a pupil may not be able to interact
with the work they are required to do or may be as a result of
a wider educational or social need. Truancy can also take place
because of bullying within schools. This emphasises the need for
the correct policies and procedures to be in place as identified
in paragraph 15. The key to tackling truancy in schools lies with
early intervention to identify and provide support for specific
SEN students and for schools and parents to be vigilant in monitoring
deteriorating attitudes to school. Parental support and engagement
is crucial in tackling this issue and demonstrates the need for
ensuring that parental engagement is a focus for all schools and
communities.
The Government's proposals regarding teachers'
powers to search pupils, removal of the requirement for written
notice of detentions outside school hours, and the extent of teachers'
disciplinary powers, as announced by the Department on 7 July
26. The NASUWT welcomed the additional measures
announced on 7 July in broad terms but is concerned about the
lack of detail regarding their implementation. The NASUWT has
campaigned for many years for anonymity for teachers facing allegations
by pupils up to the point of conviction. However, there are still
concerns about the wide variation in the recording and reporting
by the police of information that is connected with an allegation
and its investigation. The key issue is that teachers are particularly
vulnerable to false allegations by pupils and this can have a
devastating effect on their professional reputation, as well as
their personal well being. Teachers have found that due to inconsistencies
in reporting by police, a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check
will make reference to an allegation, even though it is unfounded,
and thus blight career prospects. This issue must urgently form
the basis of future guidance from the Government to ensure that
this is not allowed to continue to happen.
27. The NASUWT was concerned that the changes
to the notice period for detentions and the extension of a teacher's
power to search were measures that would need to be handled carefully
by schools, ensuring that there is clear communication with parents
and pupils, alongside a robust and accessible school behaviour
policy. Additionally, guidance about the use of force for safety
or restraint must be shaped carefully to ensure that teachers
and headteachers are not left vulnerable to disciplinary or legal
action.
September 2010
35 Christine Gilbert (2009), The Annual Report of Her
Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and
Skills 2008-09, TSO: London p 7. Back
36
Ibid, p 28. Back
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