What do you think about teachers in UK schools not being able to have any really effective discipline?

Question

you cant touch them,detention doesnt work because they dont pitch up. their parents write letters for them to let them do what they want.
What do you propose we do

Answer 1

I think the parents should co-operate with the school and show respect to the teachers who work so hard to educate their children. If the parents don't set an example of valueing education and respecting those who teach their children, things won't improve. Parents should realize that loving and supporting their children doesn't mean accepting everything they do without judgment. If their children have done something wrong, they should accept the consequences and only this way can they guide them back to the right way. How can a child know what's wrong and what's right when his/her parents say "oh, I love my child and will stand by him/her, no matter what or oh, I'm so proud of him/her... blah-blah-blah" when he/she has done something awful (getting pregnant, bullying others, getting into trouble with asbo...)and unforgivable (robbing, mugging, killing...). Parents in this country are sometimes too tolerant of their children's wrongdoings and this is not the way to love their children.

Answer 2

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. Actually teachers need to quit being legislated and start being respected as professionals. Politicians feel that they know better what students need and legislate teachers into a corner. They tell teachers how to teach and create an environment where it is incredibly tempting to teach to a test rather than teaching children how to learn. You have heard the old saying "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life." The same goes for education. If you teach children how to learn you will give them a gift that last a lifetime. In our current environment (No Child Left Behind (or Untested)) teachers are unable to give children that gift. People apparently have gotten the idea that all teachers are slackers, and left to their own devices would just put on movies all day until summer break. So people (politicians, board of directors, etc) feel they need to keep teachers under their thumb. I mean do you really think it would create better surgeons if the politicians read a book and decided that only one particular surgery would work for all patients, whether they have brain tumors or appendicitis. And then pass legislation saying that this is the way it has to be done while only giving the surgeons a small stipend to buy all the tools necessary for the surgery (which would only cover about half of the tools they need). Then, when the mortality rates increase, blaming the physicians and saying "See, this is why we have to tell them how to do their jobs. If we don't they will just kill everybody." Then passing even tighter legislation requiring that the surgeons only use certain tools during this one surgery. Then when the mortality rate increases again, blaming the physicians saying "Well I guess they aren't getting it. I guess what we should do is allow people to do their own surgeries since anyone can read a book and do this, I mean it is only surgery. But we will have to take money away from the professionals so that they average joe can pay for the tools they need to do the surgery. I mean the surgeons obviously don't care enough to do it right..." and so on and so on. A bit of an extreme example but I hope it effectively, if not sardonically, illustrates the point. Teachers are in this profession to help students learn. The lack of respect for the profession is what gets to most of us. If you treat teachers like they are children that need to be kept under a watchful eye or they will do something wrong you will soon only have people in the profession who are in it to get the summers off and play movies all day. And that will be a sad day.

Answer 3

The changes have to be at governmental level unfortunately. I think that corporal punishment is the best way to go, as teachers in many state schools get no backing up from the parents (who are often the cause of the kids' attitudes towards the teachers in the first place). If it's causing you psychological problems, you could always try teaching in a Public or Private school. It won't solve the overall problems with the schooling system, but at least you wouldn't have discipline problems.

Answer 4

I have seen a couple of short films of boys at a private school some years back where the cane was at that time still applied. As harsh as it sounds, those last years indeed thought it a fair way to keep the students in line. Painful, they agreed, but they didn't need much of it.
Consider it a deterrent.
Failing that, I like the suggestion that parents and child have to do community work hour for hour missed, I think severly fining parents would also do something.
Ultimately, perhaps we ought to bring back the cane, and start first applying it to do-gooders and parents!
If good old Da is seen hopping on on foot and the other, holding his inflated bum, junior might think twice about having it applied to his narrow one!
Problem may be more easily corrected if parents were worth a nob of soft butter instead of slimy snail snot!

Answer 5

You are making a huge sweeping statement, not all children are badly behaved. I have a class who are kind, considerate and polite to everyone, me included. They come to school ready to learn everyday and are excited by the learning process. I operate a system of assertive discipline in my classroom, this is a system of tough love where the children receive punishments for bad behaviour and reward for good. The children hate the fact that if they misbehave they get there name on the board for everyone else to see. They soon learn that rewards are nicer.
However I do recognise that there are children who display challenging behaviour, usually for one of three reasons - they are being encouraged by their peers, their parents are not supportive and they may have an uninspiring teacher. Sorry I hate to lay the blame at any of my colleagues but I think some teachers are so disillusioned with their jobs they turn the kids off too.
As for the comments earlier on about holidays - when did you give up 60% of your holiday to work!

Answer 6

Quite frankly I blame it on do-gooders like Esther Rantzen and her Childline campaign. Before then if children got punished they knew they had done wrong and learnt from it, now you can't look the wrong way at a child without it turning round and accusing you of some imagined misdemeanor because this is what they have learnt from the media: Children should be able to do whatever they like, because they are young, and uneducated. They don't need responsibility, to meet standards, to respect their elders or be punished for bad behaviour. Partly I also blame the rise of this on single-parent families and broken homes. How one person can expect to bring up a child on their own is just irresponsible. It takes two people working in tandem and singing from the same hymn sheet. I have also noticed over the years that where once children may choose nursing or banking for a career path, these days they want it all given to them on a plate via apperances on reality tv shows and the like. They want the dream and have been falsely led to believe that it can be achieved without trying or studying too hard. I don't envy teachers at all in this day and age, whereas once it was a career option I may have considered. It also amazes me the appauling levels of grammer and spelling that I witnessed in my felllow students whilst on my degree course. How we return the education in this country to the glory days of old is a huge challenge. I think it would take a massive u-turn by the majority of people to stand up and say 'This isn't going to happen anymore and we must set standards for these pupils to achieve and make them realise that they have to attend and take the responsibility for their own education and future'. No idea how this could be done, but I agree with you, it needs to be soon!

Answer 7

I have a 6 point plan

1. All children to attend school or they attend outwith school hours with parents to do community service

2. Teachers to Teach - FULL STOP

3. Employ School Security that will reduce bullying and improve child safety and ensure no truancy

4. Ban Mobile phones for children who do not comply for example, No homework submitted - a weeks ban with phone kept secure at school, Abusing a Teacher a months loss of phone, Attack a Teacher and get a minimum 6 months in Borstal

5. Agreed parents / teachers meetings - parents to attend or be given 7 days community service - clean the school etc

6. Provide school work on saturdays for truants as a punishment

we need Tough Love

Answer 8

It's not just in the UK, of course, it's going on everywhere. The problem is that parents just dump their kids at school and don't take an interest in what's going on there. Then the kids think that nobody has a right to tell them what to do, and if they get in trouble they give their parents a bunch of b.s. and the parents believe it.

Answer 9

madness my dads an Learning support manager and so this basically means that he deals with the naughtiest but also those who are struggling. He on occassion has had to go to a parents house at three in the afternoon and wake them up knocking on their door after sending 2 letters and phoning to tell them that their son needed to come to school to hand in coursework. It's really hard to know what to do but t shows how bad the situation is and i suppose being stricter with parents would help. Maybe they should have to have lessons on parenting as its obviously quite hard and would be extra support

Answer 10

this is the main reason we see all this ISBO`s around, you can not do anything or you will be in the wrong, they (people & kids) are given way too many rits, and now the country is stragling in its own mess, you lift a finger you are guilty, you raise your voice you are guilty you do not do anything you are guilty, what can you do? NOTHING, you just have to cope with the governement nonsence, you can`t even defend yourself in your own home, you have to sit and watch the burgler robing your house maybe offer them a cupper, wait until they leave, then call the police, witch in turn may never catch them, nice laws.