Headteachers in England tell of worsening behaviour of pupils – and parents
Headteachers in England tell of worsening behaviour of pupils – and parents
School leaders in England describe culture of non-compliance since lockdowns, with pupils wandering corridors but skipping lessons
My belief is this all comes down to austerity. We have poorer people, a much poorer health service (physical and mental health), less benefits, less money for teachers, less money for social workers, less money for police, less job opportunities, less pay, higher rent, higher costs etc across the board but especially worse in poorer areas. This is a society on the verge of collapse and we're seeing signs of it everywhere.
Happy families and happy kids want to engage with other people, learn things and be part of a community. What makes them happy - enough money for shelter, food and basic necessities without worry of where the money for rent is going to come from or having to use a food bank. I've been there and when you are struggling it's hard to care for the wider society / community. Thankfully I didn't have kids eating up that stress which they will easily pick up on.
Right. There is such thing as a social contract. In that people will generally be conforming members of society if they believe they’re getting a fair shot at life.
If we don’t feel like we are getting a fair shot and the game is rigged against us, then you get rebellion, an increase in crime and anti-social behaviour.
While this is all true, and I agree that it is a big part of it, the lack of actual consequences for the worst behaved kids at schools is why schools are struggling. You used to be able to properly expel children instead you now exclude, and unless its exceptional circumstances you have to take them back if no other school will take them. Even in the event of exceptional circumstances the kid has a legal right to education so the LA has to provide this somewhere, usually in isolation at the same school, which drags resources from elsewhere from a very limited budget.
Going back far enough and we used to have schools for this group of children that they would get transferred to who had the staff ratios and skills to deal with them properly but they mostly got shut or moved private as part of this change.
Once the kids work out that there are no consequences to their action what do you think will happen?
Couple this with kids who do not belong at a standard school because of behavioural and learning disabilities because there are not enough places at specialist schools and/or their parents straight up refuse to have them diagnosed (and the primary school deliberately omitted it from the hand over) and you end up with way too many kids who are next to impossible to manage.
I am talking about kids who you are not allowed to make loud noises in the class room, or boys that are not allowed to sit next to girls because they get grabby, or kids that throw chairs at teachers, or kids that bring knifes to school, or sell drugs. Without the schools that are geared up to handle them, and a robust process to move them to these schools that takes weeks not terms to do this is not going to get better.
While this is all true, and I agree that it is a big part of it, the lack of actual consequences for the worst behaved kids at schools is why schools are struggling. You used to be able to properly expel children instead you now exclude, and unless its exceptional circumstances you have to take them back if no other school will take them.
We had poor houses not long before this also. People are expected to hold 2 jobs just to live these days. You cannot work long hours and look after kids at the same time. It is this sort of selfish attitude that has empowered the Tories to push the standards as far as we see now. We don't need a race to the bottom.
Also because of the reasons you've said it means theres also no consequences to actions any more because of stretched public services
When compared to the "old 90's style" of learning around the subject, and looking at exciting ways to work with and interpret materials, by passionate teachers who make the process engaging and interesting - what is it about overworked, undersupported staff at underfunded schools, owned by for-profit Academy groups, and teaching Michael Gove's "learn a mindless list of things and repeat what the teacher said" that's failing to engage students?
Let's just remind people that this is not a place where they choose to go, but a place where they are forced to go, and then people hold them to a behaviour standard that they never agreed to.
It’s an interesting point and appeals to my anarchist tendencies, but was it not broadly agreed that adults take decisions on behalf of minors, because an accumulation of experience and wisdom make them better equipped so to do ?
And was it not also broadly agreed that in the absence of a suitable adult, society would take those decisions, as best they could, for such children ?
Of course, one size does not fit all, but as was recently highlighted by pandemic, a great many children are, tragically, much safer in school than not.
If school as an institution were replaced, we’d still face those problems, I think.
Of course, one size does not fit all
I suppose that's the root of the issue with our approach to education. If schooling is mandatory then it should also be mandatory to properly meet each child's individual needs, but in practice that doesn't happen. As a result many children reject school and achieve poor outcomes from it.
accumulation of experience and wisdom
Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence. :P
Let's just remind ourselves that socialising and educating kids is always going to involve them doing things that they don't want to do.
Can you imagine what would happen if it was up to the kids to decide if they went to school? Haha...
a place where they are forced to go, and then people hold them to a behaviour standard that they never agreed to.
You are correct. School does prepare children for adult life, employment and responsibilities.
Calm down there Che Guevara
...Like you realise most secondary schools have the set of responsibilities and expectations on a single page that the child will sign in year 7, right?
It's basically just symbolic and of course you can choose to not sign it and will still go to the school, but to say that they never agreed to it, atleast in my experience is a stretch. Though obviously there is a lot more nuance in this conversation.
The reality is underfunding of both schools, as well as sports/youth clubs, the schools being unable to make effective punishments, and parents not caring what their child gets up to both online and in school likely are the key things to blame.
Plus the effect on the psyche of children growing up in a world which they know is fucked and seeing genuinely so little to improve it probably doesn't help.
That bullshit piece of paper seemingly everyone signs is, in my opinion, the dumbest thing there is. As a child you are effectively forced to sign said document, and as a minor you really can’t enter into binding agreements anyway. Both of which do not improve the ‘legality’ of those documents.
I was fairly well behaved, I’d say, but I never felt any sort of reason to specifically follow that guide, especially as it was forced on us. I expect a lot of other more self-aware children feel similar when still in school.
Overall it’s just a symptom of the proper resources missing.
The behaviour standards in school are much lower than in real life. In school telling your teacher to fuck off might get a demerit, or a warning, maybe isolation or in repeated circumstances suspension.
Telling your boss at McDonalds to fuck off will mean you don't work there any more.
Partner is a teacher in a deprived area and parents have physically engaged with teachers on more than one occasion.
But even in my job which has a publicly known phone number people are finding it perfectly reasonable to shout down the phone despite nothing having gone wrong with their process.
People are getting more aggressive and it'll be a mixture of things. Partially cos everything is fucked, but also, certainly in my case, things like Amazon have changed people's expectations. They get something the next day, if they don't like it they get a voucher no questions asked, or if they want they can scam the system.
Works fine for Amazon, doesn't work fine of you try to force that business model onto already stretched public services. If they're told their kid isn't behaving or performing they'll go on the attack and act like a shitty customer rather than a parent.
It isn't just schools - behaviour in universities isn't stellar at the moment. The fees system has helped create a lot of entitlement (students assume they've paid for the pass), and a lot of students have missed that key formative experience of how to learn in a group due to COVID disruption.
What is interesting is even international students are acting out, which suggests a problem beyond the UK's awful living conditions. What is notable is that students are (measurably) weaker in terms of basic ability when entering university, and the resulting frustration from this may explain some of their part in this tragedy.
Honestly the first set of students coming in at undergrad after covid that I had were simultaneously wonderful and also felt about 2 years behind where they usually are socially. It was a bit of a struggle getting them to properly sit down and think. They did absolutely thrive when you got them going though (with some kinda more experimental pedagogy) so I do still have hope.
I'm sure this isn't just a UK problem, I'm sure many countries are reporting worsening behaviour in parents, which filters down to the children. I know it's been a problem for a while where I am!
I really feel for the students now with the high fees. They're paying so much more money to get a degree than older generations. They need to because any half decent graduate job needs a degree with at least a 2.1, so they feel like they don't have a choice but know they are paying for the certificate rather than an education really.
It doesn't excuse shitty behaviour and entitlement but I don't think it's fair to just blame them. The social contract is broken, they are still kids trying to figure out the world, they are used to being spoon fed exam questions at school, they are worried about climate change, the old people in power suck, they were really messed up by covid and the future looks pretty bleak.
By the way, that graduate job pays less than it did for older generations, in some cases a lot less as companies have taken advantage of the apprenticeship scheme by getting rid of higher paying grad jobs to the unliveable pay they get. By the way, in my profession, all the apprentices seem to have degrees as the competition is so high. They also come with a worse pension, worse benefits and worse pathway to promotions. That job will barely cover increasing rents if you're lucky enough, let alone allow you to build up a deposit for unaffordable housing.
At my highly rated course at a red brick uni, I'd say about a quarter of my lecturers were actually good teachers, about half were sort of OK and another quarter really sucked. You can tell they were there for the research and resented teaching. I paid £3k a year for the privilege of that so was slightly annoyed. If I was paying £9k or whatever it is, I'd be pretty pissed off.
The university system is broken with all the research targets, funding issues, low pay, etc.
All of this adds together to make it a shitty time for everyone! Now I've depressed myself for the day...
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Headteachers in England have described a culture of non-compliance among pupils, as talks were held to try to avert further strikes at a school in Kent where staff walked out over student behaviour.
The Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey hit the headlines last week after members of the National Education Union took strike action over fears for their safety, complaining of assaults and threats of violence.
Unmet special needs, mental health issues and persistent post-pandemic absence are all creating tensions in schools, which can result in breaches of the behaviour code.
Suspensions and permanent exclusions are up in his school too, not generally for big one-off incidents but for an accumulation of episodes of non-compliance.
Wendy Exton, national executive member of the NASUWT teaching union, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after working in a pupil referral unit.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “It is vital that schools manage pupils’ behaviour well so they can provide calm, safe and supportive environments.
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