Teachers left to 'sink or swim'

By Alison Smith
BBC News education reporter at the NASUWT conference

The root cause of bad behaviour is poverty, says one teacher

Newly-qualified teachers are often left to "sink or swim" with the most poorly-behaved classes and do not receive the training they need to manage disruptive pupils, teachers say.

Initial teacher training is failing to provide teachers with the skills to cope with pupils who are drunk, abusive or violent.

Some newly-qualified teachers received just a half-day lecture and workshop on how to deal with poor behaviour, teachers told the NASUWT's annual conference.

The government must improve training and induction programmes for new teachers, they said.

'Little constructive support'

Support for teachers in their first job was "hugely variable", said Amanda Haehner, of NASUWT's national executive.

Ruth Williams, a teacher in her second year of teaching in Oxfordshire, said pupils in one year nine class admitted coming to school drunk or high on drugs, and she had been physically assaulted when she asked pupils to move seats.

But behaviour management training or support had not been provided at any stage of her training.

"I have had very little constructive support despite numerous requests for training," she said.

But another teacher, Aaron King, said no amount of training could enable teachers to deal with problems inherent in society.

One 10-year-old pupil had told him that when he grew up, he wanted to be a rapist.

But poverty - according to Mr King the root cause of poor behaviour in his school - could not be tackled by any behaviour management training.

'Make Ofsted drool'

Newly-qualified teachers embark on a year-long induction programme which includes coaching and mentoring from more experienced members of staff.

The Teaching Development Agency says all new teachers can expect to be able to watch an experienced teacher in action, and that formal training does not end once a teacher gets into the classroom.

However, Fred Brown, an experienced teacher from Belfast, said that many newly-qualified teachers were "treated like Lithuanian workers" and asked to do things which other teachers would not want to do.

"The level of exploitation I have sometimes seen is extreme and saps their energy and motivation," he said.

Some new teachers can also end up as supply teachers because of a lack of available jobs, taking difficult classes at short notice.

Not being able to cope did not mean they were inadequate at the job, delegates said.

Some were "intelligent, committed and enthusiastic and could design lesson plans to make Ofsted drool", one experienced teacher said.

But they were not given the skills they needed to get those lessons across when a minority of pupils were disrupting the class.

Supply teachers, who were often left to pick up the pieces where newly-qualified teachers were not able to cope, should also be supported to manage poor behaviour, delegates agreed.