Pay attention at the back there – pupils' behaviour is getting better

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 21:58

THE behaviour of children in schools is improving, according to a major new report.

The three-yearly Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research found that a majority of teachers – more than 90 per cent – believed most pupils were well-behaved in school. Compared with the previous survey in 2006, school staff showed a more positive attitude towards pupil behaviour.

Although the survey found physical violence towards teachers was rare, pupil-to-pupil verbal or physical abuse was more common. Just 7 per cent of headteachers said they, or their staff, had been victims of aggression in the past week, but 30 per cent said there had been at least one such incident between pupils.

Of the pupils surveyed, 30 per cent had seen classmates pushing or being aggressive to each other, and one in four in primary and 28 per cent in secondary had seen pupils punching, kicking or physically hurting each other in some way.

The positivity felt by teachers was widely welcomed in education circles, but calls were made for greater progress. Teachers said it was crucial that there was no let-up in improvements in school indiscipline.

Ronnie Smith, the general-secretary of the EIS teaching union, warned: "Any cuts to education funding would only put at risk all the progress made on improving discipline to date."

He added: "By far the biggest issue for schools where indiscipline is concerned is still low-level pupil disruption, such as pupils talking in class or refusing to follow instructions."

The report itself admits disruptive behaviour, rather than violence, is the main barrier to education.

It says: "Although serious incidents occur from time to time – more frequently among pupils than between staff and pupils – it seems to be still the comparatively low-level indiscipline around the school that headteachers see to have had the most negative impact on staff."

Labour schools spokesman Ken Macintosh warned that recent budgets cuts to education made by cash-strapped councils would only make the problem worse. He said: "Poor discipline in the classroom is still the issue that upsets and worries children and their parents most of all. Disruptive behaviour prevents children learning and wears down even the most committed teachers."

Liz Smith, the Conservative schools spokeswoman, warned that there was still a small minority of pupils whose persistent bad behaviour made life a misery for others. And she called for the statistics on indiscipline to be published annually, rather than every three years. She said: "That minority is growing in size and now nearly a quarter of headteachers believe indiscipline has a major impact on our classrooms. Indiscipline is a problem in far too many schools and that is the view of the vast majority of parents.

"These parents want the bullies taken out of our classrooms and they want headteachers to have the final say on whether a pupil should be excluded or not."

Schools minister Keith Brown said: "The most frequent indiscipline problems that teachers encounter are low level, such as talking out of turn in class, while violence against teachers is extremely rare."

He said the research would be used to find ways to help local authorities and schools tackle problems where they exist. The survey included more than 3,500 teachers and school staff and questioned 250 primary and 316 secondary pupils.

Headteachers described the report as an indication of steady progress on the issue of bad behaviour. Ken Cunningham, of School Leaders Scotland, which represents secondary heads, said: "Schools are safe places to be and where that is still called into question by any abusive behaviour, there is a concerted will to address the problem."