Discipline give a speech in two minutes?

Answer 1

Every day around 50,000 pupils miss school without permission. Bad behaviour disrupts education at one in twelve secondary schools, according to Ofsted. And four out of five secondary pupils say some of their classmates regularly try to disrupt lessons.

The mission of this government is to raise educational standards. But you can't raise standards if pupils miss school and behave badly when they are there. Attendance and good behaviour are preconditions for effective learning. Tackling poor behaviour is as much part of improving pupil performance as good teaching. There are two other reasons why we must tackle the behaviour problem.

First, education is about values as well as knowledge and skills. Values such as respect, courtesy and consideration are the foundations of a civilized society. That includes respect for others and respect for authority.

Heads, teachers, parents and other school staff deserve respect.

There can never be any justification for subjecting them to assault - verbal or physical.

Residents living near schools and older people in particular also deserve respect - they should not have to put up with being jostled or abused while waiting for a bus, walking near their home or shopping at the local store.

And in case anyone thinks that sounds a bit old fashioned or authoritarian then just reflect on this fact. Forty five per cent of teachers leaving the profession cited behaviour as one of the main reasons for doing so.

They are highlighting a lack of respect in too many of our schools. It is time to restore respect for authority to its rightful place.

That in turn must mean a sustained drive to strengthen school discipline. Second, we know that if we do not address behaviour problems early on then both the children themselves and society at large suffer.

Half our children are now getting five or more good GCSEs. But only 10% of persistent truants and 17% of pupils who have been excluded achieve that standard. And a survey from the Youth Justice Board published earlier this year reported that two thirds of truants and excludees said they had committed a criminal offence.

Children need clear boundaries: boundaries that adults - parents as well as teachers - must set. We cannot abdicate our responsibility when children move outside those boundaries.