Behaviour and Discipline in Schools - Education Committee Contents


Memorandum submitted by the Association of School and College Leaders

INTRODUCTION

  1.  The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) represents 15,000 members of the leadership teams of maintained and independent schools and colleges throughout the UK. This places the association in a particularly good position to present evidence to this inquiry.

  2.  We would draw the committee's attention to work that has already been completed on behaviour, particularly the work of the group chaired by Sir Alan Steer (2009) and the Practitioners' Group (2005).

  3.  We hope that the committee recognises that the vast majority of schools are calm well-ordered places where violent, disruptive behaviour is not a significant issue: a view supported by evidence from Ofsted.

  4.  This report can only identify a number of the key points on such a broad topic and the association is happy to provide further information as required.

How to support and reinforce positive behaviour in schools

  5.  Schools should aim for the highest possible standards of student behaviour.

  6.  Schools should develop a positive ethos within their school community. Pupils need to be engaged in the life of the school, consulted through pupil voice and their leadership and decision making skills developed.

  7.  What the school expects of students should be clear and understood by all. Ideally the students and their parents should be involved in setting these expectations. These expectations should be displayed around the school. A number of schools have built on the idea of "Rights and Responsibilities" to help determine expectations of behaviour.

  8.  The student support system of a school should ensure that every pupil has someone who knows them well and is able to support them with their learning and development. Specific additional support may need to be focused on those young people that are particularly vulnerable. A number of schools have used learning mentors effectively in this role.

  9.  To promote good order schools not only need to have agreed policies and practices in place, but all the staff in the school need to implement these policies consistently.

  10.  Inappropriate behaviour should always be challenged and the issues addressed. ASCL supports the principle of "early identification and intervention" to work with students with behavioural issues.

  11.  Where staff are having difficulties with behavioural management they should receive intensive support and coaching.

The nature and level of challenging behaviour by pupils in schools, and the impact upon schools and their staff

  12.  Schools have a challenging task, being expected to uphold the highest behavioural standards whilst children, their parents and society often observe very different behavioural norms outside school and at weekends.

  13.  It should be noted that the standards of behaviour in the vast majority of secondary schools are good or better.

  14.  Media reports of declining standards are not built on any firm evidence base but tend to come from a false extrapolation from a few relatively isolated but often serious incidents.

  15.  Schools and their teachers do however face challenging behaviour from some young people and a range of strategies have been employed to deal with the situations faced.

  16.  There is a range of challenging behaviour. The most common is what is termed "low level disruption" to lessons through children not retaining concentration and failing to focus on their work. This is demonstrated by actions such as, talking out of turn, shouting out, children out of their seat or generally hindering other students. This type of behaviour can be a constant drain on staff energy and take the focus away from developing the learning experiences for the students. Teachers and support assistants have however developed a wide range of strategies and approaches to both minimise the level of such disruption and to deal with it when it occurs.

  17.  The more serious behavioural problems include:

    — Complete refusal to follow staff instructions.

    — Continual use of abusive language and use of threats to staff or other students.

    — Racist incidents.

    — Violence to staff or other students.

    — Selling drugs.

    — Weapon carrying and/or use.

    — Gang culture and fighting.

  18.  All of the above behaviours can cause insecurity in staff and students and seriously affect staff confidence and undermine their authority. Again schools have well developed approaches to dealing with these situations but damage can be done to the ethos and culture of the school by the very fact that these activities take place even when dealt with well by the school.

  19.  Although a serious incident can have a negative impact on a school, dealing very well with such an incident can also have a positive impact by making it clear that such behaviour is not acceptable and showing what the consequences are should there be a similar event.

  20.  Schools also have to deal with issues between students and increasingly conflicts from outside the school that move into the school and impact on school life.

  21.  The electronic age has brought with it a number of new challenges including cyber bullying and challenges to school staff authority through social networking sites. Strategies to deal with these are being used but are still at a developmental stage.

The Approaches taken by schools and local authorities to address challenging behaviour, including fixed-term and permanent exclusions

  22.  Prevention is of course far better than having to deal with unacceptable behaviour. Developing a suitable school ethos of respect among students, staff and parents is essential, as is having a curriculum appropriate to the needs of the students. Having a range of learning and teaching approaches that engages and interests the young people will significantly reduce incidents of poor behaviour. Schools have commented on the fact that the increased flexibility in the curriculum at both KS3 and KS4 has been helpful and has helped improve behaviour.

  23.  Many schools have introduced training programmes for their staff on behavioural management strategies.

  24.  There is considerable experience in schools as to what works in successfully managing behaviour. Secondary schools have extremely well developed structures to support classroom teachers in terms of dealing with disruptive pupils. These include:

    — Coaching schemes led by experienced members of staff.

    — Observation classrooms to observe experienced teachers at work.

    — Peer support systems.

    — Use of specially trained classroom support assistants.

    — Support staff on call to support staff and deal with incidents.

    — Withdrawal of students from the classroom.

    — Use of extraction rooms following seriously disruptive incidents.

    — Use of internal exclusion (with support for the student) as an alternative to external exclusion.

    — Senior staff on call available to deal with serious incidents.

    — Support and re-integration programmes for students that have been internally or externally excluded.

  25.  Many schools now have highly trained support staff in support of staff and to work with pupils that are causing issues in the classroom or around the school. Schools use punishments both to deter pupils and as part of the process for students to understand that their actions have consequences.

  26.  Retaining students after the lesson and into a break or lunchtime is a very commonly used approach. After school detentions tend to be used for repeat offenders.

  27.  Fixed Term external exclusions are used for repeated "minor" incidents or for more serious offences such as:

    — Violence to another pupil.

    — Possession of drugs on the school premises.

    — Theft.

    — Damage to property.

    — Racist incidents.

  28.  Although the vast majority of secondary schools will use any form of external exclusion only after exhausting other alternatives there is a significant variation in the use of external exclusions.

  29.  Most secondary schools operate effectively in behavioural partnerships in which the use of "managed moves" or "fresh starts" as a way of giving students a further opportunity to succeed within the school system without the need for a permanent exclusion. The success of such programmes is variable and many partnerships have developed schemes of "time out" between the schools with specific work carried out with the young person, often through a PRU or special school, to modify the student behaviour before their start in the new school.

  30.  In some places partnerships are still at a low level of effectiveness, particularly when some schools remain outside the group. In some cases trust is lacking and league tables, and the competition for pupils, inhibits openness and honesty.

  31.  Where partnerships are working well, behaviour collaboration has produced positive benefits in reducing the number of fixed term and permanent exclusions as well as improving attendance rates. Schools actively involve other specialists to work with students and multi agency working in schools is now fairly common. We see this working most effectively when the multi-disciplinary teams are based in schools. The quality of such teams, their capacity to deal with the volume of work and their support for individual students is variable across the country.

  32.  Some schools have worked together to operate a unit on a neutral site. This is used as a buffer between six day and permanent exclusion. In authorities like Lancashire schools have set up "respite centres" which pupils attend from the sixth day of exclusion. There are also examples of schools providing an "alternative day" in order to reduce short term exclusions with pupils attending school at varying times and taught in separate units.

  33.  Many secondary schools continue to complain that they do not have enough time from educational psychologists, social workers and education welfare staff. There has been an increase in the number of pupils from mainstream schools suffering from mental health problems, often with consequent behavioural problems. Schools continue to be frustrated at the slow response time for access to children's mental health services including child and family guidance.

  34.  The restriction placed on schools with the requirement to make educational arrangements for students on exclusions beyond the sixth day appears to have led schools to keep fixed term exclusions down to five days whenever possible. There are however some good examples of local arrangements working well but there are some organisational or cost issues particularly in rural areas with long distances between schools.

  35.  Permanent exclusion is, for the majority of secondary schools, a last resort: only used when all else has failed. However some members have indicated that they "have" to move to permanent exclusion as this is the only way to trigger the required support for the young person, highlighting the concerns we have regarding the difficulties of accessing some of the support services.

  36.  ASCL believes that in the interests of fairness and natural justice independent appeals panels against exclusions should remain. We consider that the removal of these panels will also lead to several parents taking legal action against schools which will involve a great deal more work and unnecessary bureaucracy for the school.

  37.  Following a permanent exclusion there are good examples of how behavioural partnerships handle the process of allocating another school to the student. The use of re-integration programmes and a phased introduction to the new school are well used in many parts of the country.

  38.  ASCL has considerable concerns regarding Children's Trusts. Although there are reports of some working well in most cases these appear ineffective and bureaucratic and have failed to produce "joined up action". Inter-agency work is at its most effective at an institutional rather than authority wide level.

Ways of engaging parents and carers in managing their children's challenging behaviour

  39.  Schools need to actively engage with all parents and set up a good communications system so that parents feel involved in the decision making processes related to their child's education. The use of modern technology is helpful here with the use of email and text systems now being extensively used, although there are still issues with the hard to reach parents.

  40.  Many schools use some form of "single point of contact" approach for parents so that parents know who to contact and a relationship is set up between that member of staff and the parent.

  41.  Several schools have made excellent use of Parent Support Advisers to promote the school-home relationship.

  42.  A number of schools have had success in working either on their own or with external agencies in setting up support "clinics" for parents to work with them on strategies to improve their child's behaviour. One of the frequently observed issues relates to young people who have not had any boundaries set at home and therefore find it difficult in environments where boundaries are clearly laid out. We would urge work with such families at an early age as the behavioural patterns are often ingrained in the pupil by the time they get to secondary school which makes the task in there much more difficult.

  43.  Many schools will use a regular phone contact with the parent/guardian to inform them of progress. It is essential to find positive messages to send home as well as concerns. Positive message can give the parent encouragement to persevere whereas a series of negative messages can led to the parent giving up.

  44.  As some parents themselves have negative views of schools, some schools have used home visits or meetings at neutral venues eg youth club to meet with parents so that the parent is not "always been called into school".

How special educational needs can best be recognised in schools' policies on behaviour and discipline

  45.  Behaviour policies need to be flexible enough to ensure that students with SEN are in no way disadvantaged.

  46.  Much progress has been made to ensure that able students with behavioural issues are not placed in SEN (learning difficulties) groups.

The efficacy of alternative provision for pupils excluded from school because of their behaviour

  47.  There is significant variation in the quality of alternative provision with some excellent work in PRUs, college linked and vocational courses and special schools. There is much to learn from the good practice and better dissemination of this is essential.

  48.  Some special schools report that they are admitting pupils with behavioural difficulties at an older age than in the past, as mainstream schools are keeping them longer, eventually failing in many cases at around years 9 or 10. This can mean that they arrive at special school too late for the school to have a great impact on the behaviour of the pupil before they reach the end of compulsory education.

Links between attendance and behaviour in schools

  49.  It is important that all students are in school unless ill or engaged in education off site. Attainment is clearly linked to attendance, with absence being one of the major factors in limiting student progress.

  50.  There is some evidence that those students who have behavioural problems also have lower attendance rates. This can be a viscous circle as absence gives a discontinuity in the learning experience which means the pupil has difficulty in picking up the lesson at the start (as they were not in the lesson last time) and this can led to them being disinterested and then disruptive. Some schools put in place strategies to deal with this to ensure such students are engaged at the start of the lesson. Although this can be time consuming for the teaching staff it can be highly effective.

  51.  It is interesting to note that schools that have adopted alternative curriculum routes for potentially difficult young people have seen both an increase in motivation, attendance and attainment. This would emphasise the point made earlier about the impact an appropriate curriculum and good learning and teaching has on students.

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

  52.  ASCL broadly welcomes the support of the government for schools when they have to deal with poor behaviour.

  53.  The vast majority of incidents in schools do not require the use of force by staff, but heads and teachers will be reassured that they have the Secretary of State's backing in the rare incidents when this becomes necessary. We would, however emphasise that there should be absolute clarity, in law, on this as the final decision on whether the use of any force is acceptable will lie in the hands of the courts.

  54.  ASCL welcomes the extension of the powers to search and would urge that common sense should rule how and when the search is carried out rather than the set of regulations that were considered when the previous administration was examining this.

  55.  The association acknowledges the sentiments behind the wish to remove the "24 hour notice" for detentions. In most cases this would only apply to detentions after school as for break and lunchtime detentions there was never any reason previously to give notice. For after school detentions there are a number of practical considerations to take into account. Firstly there is the safeguarding for the child; is it appropriate to delay a 12 or 13 year old on a dark evening to then potentially travel home alone without having warned the parents (who may not be able to collect the child)? For many schools there are transport issues where students travel to school by coach and parents would need to make arrangements to collect their child after the detention. The 24 hour gap also gives a "cooling off" period for the teacher who may have made a hasty decision. The school will also need to consider the relationship with the parents/guardians and a lack of prior notice, even if supported by statute, is likely to irritate them. For these reasons we can see a large number of schools not making use of this provision.

  56.  ASCL welcomes the determination in the July 7 statement to have anonymity for staff when allegations have been made against them. Evidence indicates that there has been an increase in the number of malicious allegations against staff and that some pupils are using these to "get" certain staff. Staff should be protected from being named in such cases.

September 2010





 
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