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28/04/2005
Conservatives pledge to restore school discipline
The Conservatives have pledged to restore discipline to schools, with the launch of the party’s ‘Teacher’s Charter’.
The new Charter includes plans to scrap appeals panels, giving head teachers the final say on excluding pupils, as well as the power to insist on parental agreement to discipline their children as a condition for children securing admission at a school.
There are also plans to provide funding for schools to introduce random drug-testing, CCTV and metal detectors, as well as measures to provide more legal protection for teachers, which the party claims will help them to enforce discipline without the worry of facing abuse allegations from pupils.
Shadow Education Secretary Tim Collins said that unless there was discipline in the classroom, “nothing will ever improve.” He accused the Labour government of failing to tackle the problem of indiscipline and truancy and now “presided over a crisis situation”.
Mr Collins said that a teacher is now attacked every seven minutes, over a million children skip lessons every year, more than 17,000 pupils were expelled for violence over the course of one term and appeals panels over-rule head teachers in one in five cases, forcing them to readmit pupils they have expelled.
Mr Collins said: “Putting teachers back in charge of our classrooms is a top priority for the next Conservative government. Mr Blair has had eight years to tackle the rising tide of indiscipline in our schools but he’s ducked it.”
In February, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly announced her support for schools to take a ‘zero tolerance” approach to tackling classroom disruption. However, the Education Secretary said that disruption was caused by a “minority” of pupils and said that “real progress” had been made in tackling serious bad behaviour in schools, stating that permanent exclusions had dropped by 25% since 1997.
(KMcA/SP)
The new Charter includes plans to scrap appeals panels, giving head teachers the final say on excluding pupils, as well as the power to insist on parental agreement to discipline their children as a condition for children securing admission at a school.
There are also plans to provide funding for schools to introduce random drug-testing, CCTV and metal detectors, as well as measures to provide more legal protection for teachers, which the party claims will help them to enforce discipline without the worry of facing abuse allegations from pupils.
Shadow Education Secretary Tim Collins said that unless there was discipline in the classroom, “nothing will ever improve.” He accused the Labour government of failing to tackle the problem of indiscipline and truancy and now “presided over a crisis situation”.
Mr Collins said that a teacher is now attacked every seven minutes, over a million children skip lessons every year, more than 17,000 pupils were expelled for violence over the course of one term and appeals panels over-rule head teachers in one in five cases, forcing them to readmit pupils they have expelled.
Mr Collins said: “Putting teachers back in charge of our classrooms is a top priority for the next Conservative government. Mr Blair has had eight years to tackle the rising tide of indiscipline in our schools but he’s ducked it.”
In February, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly announced her support for schools to take a ‘zero tolerance” approach to tackling classroom disruption. However, the Education Secretary said that disruption was caused by a “minority” of pupils and said that “real progress” had been made in tackling serious bad behaviour in schools, stating that permanent exclusions had dropped by 25% since 1997.
(KMcA/SP)
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Fifty of England’s top public schools have broken competition law by exchanging information about fees, the Office of Fair Trading has announced. Following an investigation lasting more than two years, the OFT found that pupils’ parents ended up paying higher fees as a result of the information-sharing.
20 May 2005
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Teachers call for clear discipline codes
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Teachers call for clear discipline codes
Clear discipline codes are needed to deal with unruly school pupils, Britain’s biggest teachers’ union has warned. The National Union of Teachers has launched its charter on pupil behaviour, which is calling for the adoption of discipline codes, developed with the support of teachers and pupils and backed by parents.
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Charity Helps Feed Malawi Children
The work of a Scottish charity to ensure Malawian school pupils can enjoy a nutritious meal at school has been highlighted by Scotland’s Education Secretary in Neno. Scottish Education Secretary Michael Russell has visited the town’s Chifunga 1 primary school and the nearby St Daniel Comboni Under-Six Centre to see the work of Mary’s Meals.
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Ofsted Report Condemns Muslim Free School
Ofsted inspectors have condemned a Muslim free school, open for less than a year, as "dysfunctional" and inadequate in every category of its inspection. The regulator had been due to inspect the Al-Madinah school in Derby at the end of its first year, however following reports of concerns about teaching standards and treatment of pupils.
Ofsted Report Condemns Muslim Free School
Ofsted inspectors have condemned a Muslim free school, open for less than a year, as "dysfunctional" and inadequate in every category of its inspection. The regulator had been due to inspect the Al-Madinah school in Derby at the end of its first year, however following reports of concerns about teaching standards and treatment of pupils.
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