Teachers in fear of pupils

CLASSROOMS are turning into war zones with one in 10 teachers injured by pupils in the last year.

Nearly one-third of tutors have experienced “physical aggression” from one of their charges, according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL). Almost all of a group of 830 teachers surveyed reported problems.

The survey also shows knife crime has spread to classrooms, as 3.3 per cent of pupils who attacked a teacher used a knife. Two-thirds of teachers attacked were punched and almost half were kicked. ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said: “No teacher should have to tolerate these levels of poor pupil behaviour and certainly no-one should be attacked. Not only is poor behaviour driving teaching staff away at an alarming rate – 65 per cent have considered leaving as a consequence – it is also damaging the chances of other pupils during lessons.”

The union is to call on ministers to do more to make parents and pupils take responsibility for bad behaviour.
Evelyn Gothard, a secondary school teacher from Hampshire, said children “play up frequently” because they know teachers’ hands are tied. “In the past two years we have only successfully permanently excluded one pupil,” she said.
Jean Roberts, a primary school teacher from London, said: “I have permanent marks where I have been kicked.”
In one case in Scotland last year, a pupil filmed a “happy-slapping” attack on his headmaster.

There was an outcry in 2006 when a pupil who broke his teacher’s cheekbone got just 12 months community punishment. Dexter Hungwa, then 16, attacked Liz Jones when she asked him to close a door.

Government statistics show more than 70,000 schoolchildren who assaulted teachers or other pupils were allowed back in the classroom in 2006. In that year, teachers were awarded around £25million in compensation for attacks by pupils and parents, stress and accidents.

The ATL says bad behaviour is also taking its toll on teachers’ mental health, with one in three suffering problems and stress. Almost one in 10 has taken leave because of intimidation, while 12 per cent saw a doctor.
A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesman said: “Good behaviour and respect for staff should be the norm. In the vast majority of cases, it is.”

And parents shouldn't smack their children???

Family breakdown threatens child education

A “TOXIC circle” created by the breakdown of traditional family life threatens the education of generations of children, teachers warn.

They say there are increasing numbers of pupils who can’t concentrate at school because of the “emotional turmoil” suffered when their parents split up. Many of these youngsters will be unable to create stable families for their own children – who are then also more likely to fail at school, it is claimed.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers at the union’s annual conference in Torquay, Devon, called on Labour to recognise the damage done by broken homes.
Delegates backed a resolution proposed by delegate Phil Whalley who warned that nearly half of children were now born to unmarried parents.
Mr Whalley, from Hardenhuish School, Chippenham, Wiltshire, said evidence shows that co-habiting but non-married parents are twice as likely to separate as married couples.
He added: “No matter how brilliant the lesson or how much has been spent on rebuilding the school, if a child comes in angry and in emotional turmoil because of their family life they will not learn.”
He added: “This means that we have a significant problem in Britain because we already have worrying levels of social dysfunction and family breakdown and the situation is getting worse.
“The great sadness is that the consequences of an unstable family background are felt long into adult life. Those who underachieve in their education are much more likely to go on and live dysfunctional lives and be unable to support a stable family life for their own children.

“In short, as a society we are in danger of creating an expanding, perpetuating and toxic circle.”

One teacher said many children are “losers before they even start”. Teachers also warned that white working-class boys were failing at school. Only 15 per cent of white boys from poor backgrounds in England gain five good GCSEs including maths and English.

But union members said that politicians were reluctant to discuss the issue for fear of lending support to far-Right groups.
The Department for Children said: “What happens outside school is as important as what happens inside when it comes to driving up standards. “We don’t want to turn teachers into social workers or housing officers.
“That’s why we are focusing on how we can make all schools 21st Century schools, with integrated services for all children and early intervention for those who need it.”

Sex lessons for primary school pupils?

The Christian Institute published the following article on its website on 27/08/2008:

Primary school children aged as young as four should be forced to undergo sex education regardless of parents’ wishes, a group of MPs has said.

A cross-party group of ten MPs has written a letter to The Daily Telegraph calling for sex lessons to be made compulsory in primary and secondary schools.

At present, the law requires that schools teach the biological facts about sex in science lessons to secondary school pupils.

Anything more than this is not currently compulsory. While many schools choose to offer extra sex education programmes, parents can ask for their children not to be included.

Despite the widespread use of such programmes – and some critics say because of them – levels of sexually transmitted infections have risen sharply amongst teenagers.

The number of teenage abortions has also increased and the reduction in teenage pregnancies looks set to fall short of Government targets.

However, the group of ten MPs says the answer is more sex education. They have called on the Government to make sex education compulsory, even for primary school children.

In February the Government launched a review of sex education. The UK Youth Parliament was asked to play a leading role in the review. It supports removing a parent’s right to withdraw their child from sex lessons.

According to press reports in June, Ministers have repeatedly hinted that the proposal will be adopted. But the Department for Children, Schools and Families has said it has “no current plans” to make sex lessons compulsory.

The signatories of the letter are:
Chris Bryant MP (Lab)
John Bercow MP (Con)
Doug Naysmith MP (Lab)
Martin Salter MP (Lab)
Clive Efford MP (Lab)
Sandra Gidley MP (Lib Dem)
Robert Key MP (Con)
Martyn Jones MP (Lab)
Julie Morgan MP (Lab)
Evan Harris MP (Lib Dem)

And:
Gill Frances, Chair of the Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group
Andy Hamflett, Chief Executive of the UK Youth Parliament

Stars blamed for new breed of football louts

A SENIOR police officer has blamed football’s millionaire bad boys for a “new breed” of drunken hooligans.

Superintendent Andy Ball said fans mimic the actions of some Premiership stars who “get away with behaving badly”.

Supt Ball spoke out after it was revealed that 25 British Transport Police officers were assaulted during the 2007/08 season on match days – the highest number ever.

He called on English football’s elite to “do their bit” by modifying their behaviour.

“We do have growing problems with youth groups and we need to recognise the threat they bring along to football,” he said.

“They bring a new dimension. They have less respect for authority and they are more inclined to drink heavily. “They see their role models being paid lots of money and behaving badly and they see that often these people are not sanctioned for it.

From a lay person’s perspective, this is a problem in society and these players have a role to play.”

Police are worried that fans who see their idols getting away with foul tackles, swearing at referees, getting drunk and falling out of night clubs and also cheating on their partners are inspired to copy them, leading to a new breed of hooligan.

Football bad boys over the past few seasons have included Newcastle United star Joey Barton, who served a jail sentence for his part in a street fight, and West Ham ace Craig Bellamy, who waved a golf club at his then Liverpool team mate John Arne Riise.

Supt Ball, who is in charge of BTP’s event planning and co-ordination unit, said officers were now facing growing problems from fans aged 16 to 22 whose aggression could be directly linked to the behaviour of the players.

He also claimed that alcohol-related violence and disorder on trains taking fans to matches had increased by 10 per cent, with drink-fuelled disorder rising from 305 to 337 incidents.

“Our job is to make going to football matches an unpleasant environment for them,” he said.

His comments came after the Football Association launched its Respect campaign to coincide with the start of the new season. Football bosses plan to clamp down on disrespect or aggression towards referees by encouraging officials to be tougher in applying the rules.

Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, said: “Whether they like it or not, footballers are role models and, while there may not be a proven link, if a player behaves well on the pitch it can only have a good effect on fans’ behaviour.”

DC Graham Naughton, a football intelligence officer with BTP, said the breed of younger hooligans posed a new threat, because they have no respect for the police and attack normal fans rather than fight rival hooligans.

He told Police Review magazine yesterday: “These younger groups are different. The core hooligans we are used to dealing with had some sort of code of conduct when they met to fight each other.

“For example, they would never attack what they classed to be ‘normal fans’ and they knew that if they bashed a policeman then they would be in deep trouble. These younger groups do not respect that.”