Teachers target disruptive pupils

The union's focus is on indiscipline in the classroom

Scotland's largest teaching union says pupil discipline in schools must be tackled if the new deal on teachers' pay and conditions is to have any chance of success.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) says the McCrone agreement will only work if teachers are given the right to exclude repeatedly disruptive children.

Reported assaults on teachers nearly doubled last year to more than 3,000 and teachers believe many more cases of unruly pupils went unreported.

The McCrone agreement in February saw Scotland's two largest teaching unions vote to accept a 21.5% pay rise.

However the success of the pay negotiations has been tempered by unruly elements in the classroom.

EIS: Wants to exclude troublesome pupils

The teaching union wants to target those persistent offenders who disrupt the classroom and make teaching more difficult.

The Scottish Executive is committed to a policy of inclusion in schools and has set up a discipline task group.

However at a meeting of teachers in Paisley on Thursday, vice-president of the EIS, Sandy Fowler, called for teachers to be able to exclude repeatedly disruptive children.

Confidence building measure

He said the kind of improvement envisioned for schools would only happen if teachers could work in a safe and disciplined environment.

"People's confidence in the new culture will be affected particularly by how the ministerial task force on indiscipline deals with the problem.

"It has to have teeth and it has to have an unambiguous proposal in it that teachers can exclude pupils who cause major disciplinary problems."

Teaching unions had fought hard for a pay settlement which met with the approval of the majority of their members.

Discipline

The three-year agreement was clinched earlier this month with over three-quarters of the teaching members voting for the deal.

At the time, Education Minister Jack McConnell said the agreement represented a "turning point" in Scottish education.