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Better Behaviour in Scottish Schools: Policy Update 2004
Summary
The majority of pupils behave reasonably, their class teachers are in control, and there is a generally positive climate for relationships and learning. Where there is indiscipline, there is low level, irritating behaviour that most teachers have no difficulty dealing with. Perhaps not surprisingly, staff in secondary schools regard indiscipline to be more serious.
It is important to consider the minority of more serious indiscipline. Most of the teachers who express concern about violence in schools describe this as pupil-on-pupil incidents. While some teachers are concerned about pupil aggression towards teachers, no teacher in the 2004 Survey experienced pupil aggression towards themselves daily, although verbal abuse is of concern. More secondary teachers feel that indiscipline is serious than their headteachers or primary colleagues.
The general picture emerging from the 2004 Survey is:
- Many headteachers report that a lot of misbehaviour occurs outside the classroom during lunch time and break time.
- In a typical school day, most teachers might experience low level indiscipline such as pupils getting out of their seat, horseplay, or making unnecessary noises.
- By the end of a working week, some teachers will have experienced verbal abuse towards themselves and a very small minority may have experienced some physical aggression.
- More teachers will encounter verbal abuse and aggression between pupils.
- The majority of teachers report they do not find the misbehaviour they encounter difficult to deal with. They use a range of strategies to respond to misbehaviour.
- Most teachers describe the majority of pupils as easy to deal with, and experience difficulty with only one or two classes and one or two pupils.
- There are areas where perceptions of indiscipline, its seriousness and the time spent dealing with it are higher in 2004 than in 1996 and 1990.
This picture is confirmed by data from other surveys. HMIE's inspection of schools describes a picture of the disciplinary climate in which there is success and areas requiring improvement. Evidence from their inspection reports shows that the quality of the climate and relationships is a major strength in nearly half of all secondary schools and more than 70% of primary schools, finding in these schools a positive environment for learning in which almost all pupils behave well. In those schools inspectors found good, respectful relationships between teachers and pupils and staff responses to any incidents that did occur were made firmly, fairly and effectively.
Comparing data from the 2004 Survey with similar surveys in 1990 and 1996, more teachers' reported incidents of perceived indiscipline in 2004 than in previous years. A full report of this comparison is published with this report. This is of concern, but the nature of indiscipline teachers and headteachers describe suggests that the focus of current policy on low level indiscipline remains appropriate. Education authorities have made progress on implementing Better Behaviour - Better Learning and their work should remain vigorous.
We conclude that further development of approaches to prevent and respond to pupil-on -pupil aggression is required. The Scottish Executive will commission a national service from 2005. The Executive will continue to support education authorities to share their innovations nationally. But we must also encourage education authorities to ensure their staff are supported and their headteachers have appropriate opportunities to develop their leadership still further.
Introduction
This Policy Update on Behaviour in Scottish Schools arises three years following the Discipline Task Group's report Better Behaviour - Better Learning. It draws on evidence from a range of sources to provide an in-depth picture, and is structured to illustrate the policy progress on the broad recommendations of Better Behaviour - Better Learning. In this way, we can judge if the current direction and priorities are appropriate.
Better Behaviour - Better Learning made 36 recommendations for the Scottish Executive, education authorities and schools to promote positive behaviour, on the premise that low level, irritating indiscipline was the primary cause for concern. The evidence available in 2004 continues to support this. In exploring the evidence, we have to consider whether Better Behaviour - Better Learning is an appropriate policy framework, and if there are specific aspects of behaviour, aspects of school practice or particular children towards which we should turn attention.
Although overall, the data suggests that indiscipline is getting worse, the comparator data is drawn from 1996, five years before Better Behaviour - Better Learning was established. We have no 2001 'baseline' by which to asses its impact. However, we can see from education authority reports in 2003 and from the reports of headteachers in the 2004 survey, that progress has been made on implementing recommendations and on introducing a range of measures in schools. Pupils spend a good deal of time in school, but their behaviour within it is to some extent a reflection of wider society, where for both young people and adults there is less deference and less automatic respect for authority. Schools must continue to expect high standards of behaviour from pupils and positive relationships between staff and pupils, and evidence suggests that climate and relationships within schools are generally good. Staff use their skill and judgement, humour and authority not only to maintain control but to build respectful relationships with pupils.
In turn, more pupils than ever are involved throughout Scotland in peer support schemes such as mentoring, buddying and peer mediation, and in pupil councils. The emphasis on developing pupils' citizenship skills and responsibility for their school community is resulting in many examples of good practice, highlighting the fact, supported by the evidence we have, that the majority of pupils are well behaved.
This report draws on a range of evidence listed in Annex A. It draws heavily on the 2004 survey of teachers' perceptions of indiscipline in schools, but explores aspects of the data further to illustrate progress on each area of Better Behaviour - Better Learning. Evidence from other sources, including international survey data, ensures that the issue of behaviour in schools is contextualised.
Five areas of the Better Behaviour - Better Learning policy framework are discussed, with relevant evidence described:
- Making schools safe and well managed learning environments
- Engaging pupils and parents
- Supporting pupils and effective intervention
- Supporting staff in schools
- Strategic development and communication
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