Principals to charge trouble pupils

Discipline rules grant heads right to charge pupils who make false allegations about teachers Schools have become adept at hiding their naughtiest pupils and worst teachers from inspectors, the education secretary has warned. Michael Gove said it was impossible to know the extent of poor behaviour in England’s schools because teachers had told him that, on the day of an inspection, they had learned to “invite” the worst teachers to stay at home and ensure the best ones were patrolling the corridors. However, Gove said he believed there was a “real behaviour problem in some of our schools”. Speaking at the launch of new guidance on discipline, he said the single biggest reason why teachers left the profession was poor behaviour, and what stopped many graduates from becoming teachers was the fear that they may not be safe in the classroom. “We rely on Ofsted – the school inspectorate – to let us know how behaviour is in many schools … One school I visited told me that teachers had become experts in showing their best face for inspectors.” Gove has introduced no-notice inspections to try to ensure Ofsted sees the true picture, but only a handful of schools have been subjected to these unexpected visits. The new guidance on discipline gives headteachers the right to press criminal charges against pupils who make malicious allegations about their teachers. It states that schools will no longer have to automatically suspend teachers accused of using unreasonable force towards a pupil, and insists that malicious allegations should not be included in teachers’ employment records. The education bill making its way through the Commons gives teachers the right to search pupils for banned items, such as mobile phones, and removes the requirement to give parents a day’s notice of a detention. Charlie Taylor, the government’s new behaviour tsar and the headteacher of a school for children with special needs in west London, said many teachers wanted more training in how to cope with unruly behaviour. He said schools should consider hiring psychotherapists to help teachers. “Pupils need to have high expectations, rules and boundaries. In deprived areas, we need to do a lot more for pupils.” Gove said: “There has to be a sharper focus on schools where behaviour is not what it should be.” Pupil behaviour Teaching Schools Michael Gove Education policy Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 4, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.