People in teaching jobs in England are being told they should use "tough but proportionate" punishments to tackle bad behaviour from their pupils.

The directive has come from the education secretary Michael Gove, who cites possible sanctions as weeding school grounds and tidying classrooms.

He believes that schools have made significant progress in tackling issues with respect and indiscipline in the past three or four years, but there is plenty more that still needs to be done. The Department for Education states that persistent absence and exclusions for abuse and assault are down significantly since 2010, but there are still 700,000 pupils in English schools who are not behaving to the required standard.

The updated guidelines will be issued to all schools and teachers in the upcoming days. It is important to note, there is no new powers for teachers, but Mr Gove is merely reminding and urging classroom staff to use existing sanctions.

He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "The one in three teachers who say they are uncertain, in polling, about the measures that they can deploy in order to keep order should be reassured by the government that they have a full range.

"People need to understand that there are consequences if they break those rules and that teachers have the power to enforce them."

Teachers' unions have been skeptical of the education secretary's advice, with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers accusing Mr Gove of "increasingly bizarre" behaviour and highlighting that schools would not benefit from any "one-size-fits-all advice".

General secretary Mary Bousted pointed out the contradiction in Mr Gove's plans, saying he states school leaders and teachers they have the power to make the right decisions for their pupils, but in fact takes every opportunity to tell them what to do.

Deputy general secretary of the National Union of Teachers Kevin Courtney said many schools already have high levels of behaviour, using most of the sanctions the guidelines will detail.