Indiscipline in schools

Teachers all across England have received communication from Michael Gove - the most powerful man in the British education system - in the last few days, reminding them of the discipline structures they can impose on unruly students.  

The education secretary wrote to schools not to change any existing rules, but simply to remind educators of the disciplinary options that they have available to them.

Mr Gove urged teachers to use sanctions such as weeding school grounds, picking up litter and tidying classrooms as a punishment and deterrent for bad behaviour. The government has rightly recognised that pupil behaviour is a major issue in the education industry, with Mr Gove saying significant progress has been made on indiscipline since the coalition came to power 

The Department of Education states absence and exclusions for abuse and assault have fallen significantly over the last three years, but 700,000 pupils are still educated in schools in which behaviour is not good enough.

Just remember to apply the sanctions?

Mr Gove and the government seem to be implying that a reiteration of the disciplinary actions available to teachers will be enough to address the issue and reduce the amount of pupils behaving poorly in class. 

Will it? Is the only problem that a generation of newly-qualified, capable and enthusiastic teachers are simply forgetting to discipline children who behave in an inappropriate manner.

When Mr Gove's advice came to light in early February, his suggestions were quickly shot down by experts in the teaching industry.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers general secretary Mary Bousted labelled Mr Gove's actions as increasingly "bizarre" and suggested a blanket simplistic solution is not going to solve a complex problem that extends far beyond the classroom.

Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary at the National Union of Teachers, said: "It has to be remembered that the majority of our schools have good levels of behaviour and many of the deterrents mentioned, such as litter detention, will already be used in many schools," adding that many of the respect problems seen in schools are actually caused by government policies. He singled out Mr Gove's penchant for unqualified teachers and the "running down local authority support services" as two of the main problems.

Are Mr Gove's solutions a sign that the minister is out of touch?

The fact that the Department for Education has offered such a limited solution to the problem of classroom indiscipline could be seen as worrying. Is the education secretary simply burying his head in the sand and refusing to acknowledge the extent of the issue, or does he honestly believe teachers simply need to be reminded of their options?

Darryl Mydat, TLTP Education's managing director, believes this is a key issue that is integral to both teachers' professional development and the overall quality of the British education system.
 
From its position as a teaching recruitment specialist, TLTP Education has been able to carry out first-hand research into classroom working conditions and pupil behaviour and found 65 per cent of teachers had been verbally abused in school or knew a colleague who had been, while a quarter of teachers cite student behaviour as one of their primary causes of stress.

These extensive and fundamental issues cannot be addressed in the way Mr Gove has outlined. 

Mr Mydat explained many new teachers are aware of the sanctions, but are unlikely to stand up to a 16 year old student, who is very different to the likes that Mr Gove may have encountered in his time at school.
 
"Maintaining discipline is obviously a part of the job but they are questioning whether this kind of sanction will actually lead to improved behaviour and certainly they tell us that they didn’t sign up to be policemen or prison officers. I know many who would like Mr Gove to join them in their schools and show them how to impose these kind of sanctions first hand so they can see how he gets on," explained the TLTP Education managing director.

As amusing as it would be to see the education secretary try to explain to modern students they need to do some weeding, it would ultimately be irrelevant.

The solutions to the problem lie in the repositioning of the role of the teacher in society, but until the minister responsible for that starts to treat teachers with respect, why will certain pupils?