(UK) Teachers told to get tough in drive for better discipline in schools

[alp227]

Source: The Daily Telegraph

Staff will also be able to search children for a wide range of items and punish those misbehaving with immediate detentions, the proposals will say.

Teachers who are the subject of complaints from pupils will not be identified and will be able to continue working until criminal charges are brought.

The plans will be announced by Nick Gibb, the schools minister. Some of the measures will require new laws, while others can be introduced by issuing guidance to schools.

Mr Gibb told The Daily Telegraph that the measures were necessary to “shift the balance of power back to teachers”.

He said “poorly-behaved children” were detecting “weakness” in teachers and disrupting classrooms to the detriment of other pupils’ education.

The minister will unveil a four-point scheme to improve standards immediately. It will be followed by other measures later in the year.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7876134/Teachers-told-to-get-tough-in-drive-for-better-discipline-in-schools.html

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I was exploring British news sites and stumbled upon this story. (In a 2005 poll, 64% of Telegraph readers voted for the Conservative Party.) Among these new guidelines include broader ability to search students for forbidden items like MP3 players; this comes the year after the US Supreme Court ruled in Safford Unified School District v. Redding that unwarranted, pre-emptive searches of students for drugs violated students' Fourth Amendment rights. I went to an American public high school, and it allowed students to bring iPods and stuff under the condition they are used only outside of school hours, off-campus. These rules are rather concerning from a civil liberties perspective. Why can't the government ask PARENTS to get tough too? Long rant finished, this is a rather interesting perspective across the Atlantic how the British government is dealing with teachers, as the Obama administration is shaking fists at unions and using misnamed "merit pay" incentives to mess with teachers' careers.

[msongs]

1. all in all we're just another.....brick in the wall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_bvT-DGcWw

Msongs

[LeftishBrit]

2. I knew this would be about Nick Gibb!

He is the new Minister for Schools, and is, even by Tory standards, something of a Neanderthal. Firmly right-wing, and very inclined to simple solutions to educational problems: *all* you need is drill drill drill, and no changes in the curriculum since Gibb was at school 40 years ago - or perhaps since the days of Dickens' Mr. Gradgrind.

I can somewhat understand the anonymity provision for teachers subjected to complaints, on general 'innocent till proved guilty' grounds, and because there *have* been a number of malicious complaints. But the right to same-day detentions worries me a lot, given that families, especially single parents, may have complicated work or medical arrangements that cannot be changed at an hour's notice. The neighbour who promised to pick up Tommy from school at 3 may not necessarily be able to do so at 4;30.

'(In a 2005 poll, 64% of Telegraph readers voted for the Conservative Party.)'

Immediate reaction: What, only 64%?!

It is commonly known as the Torygraph!

[dipsydoodle]

3. Broadly speaking this is a knife issue.

The fact that you found it in The Telegraph is incidental.

[tanyev]

4. He should start with St. Trininan's--the other schools will fall into place.

[Odin2005]

5. "Insubordination" = "correcting the teacher" in my experience

I got detention a lot for that. God forbid a student points out a mistake, that's an attack on the authority of the teacher! Don't Engage in Critical thinking! Regurgitate exactly what your teacher tells you! :eyes: