General Chat

teachers in England are to be given stronger legal rights to restrain pupils and to punish badly behaved children, the government has confirmed. Parents could also be fined if their child has been excluded but is found roaming the streets. About time, its strange isent it that slowly old fashioned values are creeping back!!!

Good, our society has become such that a teacher is scared to breathe for fear of retribution. jess

About time as well!

About time too! (I just hope no-one take advantage of this...)

Could'nt agree more Jess,old fashioned teaching never did us any harm ,and taught respect..Fred.PtfA&G&G&S.

Great, it never did me any harm, and I must admit on occasion I was punished when it was not my fault, but I lived. Gloria x

And in between there is a lost generation, sacrificed on the alter of woolly liberal ideas. Respect and values are like a bath, it takes ages to fill up but can be lost in a tenth of the time if you pull out the plug.

Brian, so very true, our country has been ruined by people who are brainless!!!

Good news for we teachers. It's about time parents were made to accept responsibility for the few badly behaved children that spoil school for the rest of us. Gwynne

Great news. Things really went downhill when the cane was abolished. OK it probably hurt but the kids weren't too keen to go back for a second caning. I think just the threat of it being there deterred some of the misbehaviour.

I agree, its about time kids got told off for doing wrong, as we all say it never did us any harm, but you can bet some high and mighty will put a spoke in the works. when will they learn its people like them they cause all sorts of problems in the first place. jean

Apart from anything else, discipline is remakably cost-effective. My primary school had 42 in the class (counted them on the photo) and no classroom assistant, yet we all came out at 11 literate and numerate. My secondary school had around 32.

Hi Roxanne :-) Whether or not it's a social backlash or just the pendulum swinging back the other way, it's certainly about time both teachers and the overwhelming majority of students, for whom the classroom is a place of work. Were afforded the same right to workplace health and safety standards as any other group. I cannot imagine any other publicly funded, government owned and operated place of work other than the classroom or school. More compromised in terms of it's original (in this case academically oriented) mandate. Or less supportive of it's workers in terms of their rights as citizens, far less as employees or clients. While we are led to believe that all children have the right to an education, there are occasions when the rights of a minority appear to exceed those of the majority. Having said that. I would never in a million years, wish to see corporal punishement returned to the classroom. That would in my own opinion be transferring opportunity to abuse power, from one set of hands to another. Patty x

If kids misbehaved they used to get given 'lines' to do. If they refused to do them they were sent to the head who gave them a warning. If they still refused to do them it was probably the slipper or cane. That seemed to change their mind!!! The problem these days is that kids know they can get away with things but if they knew they would have to face some physical discomfort things may be different. A lot of the latest generation have no respect for anybody or anything. Before you all shout I know that there are a lot of really good kids out there - again it's the minority giving the rest a bad name. My hubby used to be a teacher but decided to give it up when one boy threatened him with a large pane of glass. He knew there was nothing he could do because he'd get into trouble himself. Another teacher at the same school had a mental breakdown because of the kids.

Hi, There is no question of physical punishment being used in school again. That isn't what the new rules are. I never hit my own child and certainly wouldn't want to hit anyone else's child. Most teachers feel the same way. Gwynne

i don't believe in hitting a child. i reckon the child should be given 2 warnings, each time the parents notified. on the 3 warning the parent should be brought into school to sit in the class for a week. or pay a cash sum towards the school fund of £100 boy! the kids will soon settle bown. ltnnxx

Not before time, thank goodness someones seen the light at last. The way things were going the pupils (or a minority of them) would have ben running the classes not the Teacher. Mind you I'm the old fashioned type, a checked shirt at the gangway if you misbehave, Keel-hauling might be appropriate for the rearly bad apples. Dont think the strap, taws or whatever you like to call it did anybody that much harm physically, but it made you aware of your place at school, hurrah for common sense!! :-)))) Len

They should never have taken away the teachers rights in the first place. The sooner the teachers can do something about unruely kids the better. And yes, I agree, parents should be fined if kids are found roaming the streets during school (term) times, I know of loads of instances where kids are deliberately getting themselves suspended from school ... just to have days off. Elaine :-)

A cub will pester and hassle its lion father by climbing on his head ,tugging at an ear and so on,and will continue to do so until father lion shows his teeth or gently swipes the cub away. In the same way,law and peace will never prevail with individuals being relied upon to self govern their behaviour through knowing right from wrong,there will always need to be a leader,and authority that holds some element of fear. Its just a question of how much fear and how much authority that needs to be established.

Where do you draw the line in respect of restraining a child ? Supposing in the struggle the child badly hurts themself ? If there are no witnesses who will believe who ? Who will believe the child when the power hungry teacher gives him/her a forcefull shove or slap ? Who will believe the teacher when the child accuses him/her of assult. When they have in fact used correct restraint. Also with all due respect, there are more children in our primary school who are distruptive due to special needs than the handfull which are just naughty. To look at them you couldnt tell the differance but its true. The other day I had a child trying to hit others with a chair raised above his head. as fast as I grabbed the chair he replaced it with another. In the end, the teacher came in and had to talk him into calming down. It turns out he is a spedcial needs child with behavior problems . I think the schools and teaching staff need more power to exclude such children from school after X amounts of trouble. Or if the child is continuing to seriously disrupt the class and their peers,and are a possible danger to themselves or others, then measures should be in place for the child to be taught in a specilist school. Elaine x