Teachers report more lesson disruptions

Unions want more units for pupils excluded from school

Two out of three teachers have lessons disrupted every week by badly-behaved pupils, a survey has found.

Eight out of ten teachers say there has been a worsening of behaviour among school children during their teaching careers.

The findings are from a study carried out by the University of Warwick for the National Union of Teachers (NUT).

Researchers questioned 2,500 teachers across England and Wales and found that the picture was much the same in rural and urban areas.

The survey suggested that the problem of violent and disruptive pupils was not limited to secondary schools, and that some of the culprits are as young as three.

"Many teachers see this behaviour as the final straw," says Doug McAvoy

The NUT says the problems with behaviour are partly to blame for the problems of recruiting and retaining teachers.

The general secretary of the NUT Doug McAvoy said: "This survey shows an unacceptable level of physical and verbal aggression between pupils and directed at teachers.

"Many of the comments point to teachers seeing this behaviour as the final straw in causing them to leave teaching even though they love it.

"The very high level of disruption to lessons experienced on a weekly - and as many commented - on a daily basis is making teaching a decreasingly satisfying experience."

The union has called for an urgent meeting with the Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, to discuss the issue of pupils' behaviour.

It wants the government to give schools more freedom to expel violent and disruptive pupils and the creation of more pupil referral units - or "sin bins" - to cater for children who cannot be taught easily in mainstream schools.

Teachers and pupil behaviour

69% say lessons disrupted weekly

80% say behaviour has deteriorated

60% hear bad language every week

32% say they have been bullied by a child

43% see children threatening other children every week

Under Labour's policy of inclusion, schools were forced to cut the number of pupils they expelled and were given targets for that.

Ministers said disruptive pupils should be kept within a school, but be taught in separate units, rather than being expelled.

But teachers and head teachers complained that schools were suffering as a result.

The government acknowledged this by announcing that no new targets were being set and by giving heads more power to exclude violent pupils.

But the unions still want schools to have more powers to deal with disruptive and violent pupils.

The NUT says there should be more special schools.

Common

The survey was compiled by Dr Sean Neil of Warwick University.

He said he had been most struck by how common disrupted lessons had become.

"Teachers said they experienced low-level disruption such as answering back and disobedience every day or every week.

"It meant they could not give the lesson they had planned and they felt they could not do their job properly."

Dr Neil said teachers told him pupils seemed to know there was no effective sanction against them, that all the teachers could do was tell them off.

The NUT's Doug McAvoy said it was not fair that a few disruptive pupils were spoiling damaging the education of the majority.

"Teachers and pupils should not be expected to accept continuation of such behaviour," he said.

"They have a right to teach and to learn without constant disruption and threats or actual violence."

In particular, the union wants the guidelines on when pupils can be expelled to be widened, to give more examples of what behaviour will not be tolerated.