Visit some of the country’s best performing schools, and
you’ll notice that many of them have one thing in common:
discipline. Across the UK, dedicated head teachers have
been trying all sorts of common-sense solutions to curb
unruly behaviour and low-level disruption in the classroom
– with impressive results.
Some have banned mobile phones, asking students to place
them in lockers at the start of the day. Others, like the
City of London Academies, have implemented lining up, with
teachers quietly escorting pupils in some years to class
after break and lunch. This ensures the class stays
together, lessons start on time and the corridors are
silent – allowing classes to continue without disruption.
At Dixons Trinity Academy in Bradford, students, with the
support of their families, agree to a number of learning
habits, like making sure they are in the correct simple
uniform every day, that they always respond appropriately
to adults and they bring all the necessary equipment to
class.
And of course there’s Michaela, Britain’s “strictest
school”. Reading and writing exercises are conducted in
silence, and pupils are given demerits for things like
forgetting their pens or slouching in class. Last summer,
Michaela’s pupils – many of them from disadvantaged
backgrounds – famously triumphed in their GCSEs.
These schools are achieving great things thanks in part to
the calm, disciplined and nurturing environments they have
created. As part of our ambitious plans to level up across
the country, I want this kind of culture to be the norm,
particularly in the one in three schools judged as not
having good enough behaviour by Ofsted.
Improving discipline is one of our key priorities, which is
why we are today inviting schools with the best records on
behaviour to join a team of experts and lead a £10 million
programme to improve discipline across the system.
We plan to build partnerships between schools which are
leading on this issue with those who want to turn their own
cultures around, allowing institutions with poor behaviour
to learn from those with the best. They’ll be led by former
teacher and behaviour expert Tom Bennett, along with a team
of current and former headteachers with broad experience of
creating disciplined environments in their own schools.
Why have we made this a priority? Well, first, because poor
behaviour is dreadful for teacher morale. Our teachers are
incredibly hardworking and dedicated professionals. Having
to deal with unruly pupils and disruption on a daily basis
adds to their workload and stress and is driving many from
the profession they love. Teachers say such disruption is
one of the key reasons they would consider leaving the job,
while almost a fifth of those working in secondary schools
said they lacked confidence in their school’s ability to
deal with challenging behaviour.
Those teachers deserve better, and they have the full
support of the Government to impose discipline in their
classrooms and create calm and nurturing environments for
teaching.
But perhaps most importantly, instilling good behaviour in
our classrooms would bring the most benefit to pupils
themselves, no matter who they are or where they come from.
Ill-discipline doesn’t just hold back the brightest pupils,
but those most in need of attention, and those who are most
likely to fall behind in school when their education is
disrupted.
Like everyone else in their class, those pupils deserve to
be taught in an environment where they can be challenged so
they can fulfil their full academic potential. Being taught
the tenets of good manners, courtesy and respect for others
is also immensely valuable for pupils as they learn to cope
with complex relationships in adult society. This can also
help turn around local areas as the emerging generation
take on leadership roles in their communities.
We already have some of the best teachers in the world, and
a truly stretching curriculum. But it takes just one
incident of bad behaviour to derail an entire lesson. By
backing schools to tackle such behaviour, we can finally
put teachers in a position to focus on what they do best –
to teach.
