POLL: Should it be easier for schools to exclude problem pupils?
This week an isles teacher backed a national report that called for tougher disciplinary powers in schools.
The teacher, who spoke to The Shetland Times on the condition of anonymity, said keeping control of classrooms had been made harder because of bureaucracy.
The Commission on School Reform report has urged ministers to “lift the pressure” on headteachers and enable them to take “serious sanctions” against pupils when needed.
Produced by think tank Enlighten the report highlights an ongoing increase in behavioural problems in schools, with experts warning pupils had an “unthinking sense of entitlement”.
A member of the commission said the teachers should be given the power to "withdraw the right to attend from pupils guilty of persistent or extreme behavioural problems."
While the report focuses on problems throughout Scotland, this newspaper has reported on behavioural trends at Shetland schools including serious allegations of bullying, drugs and a “toxic atmosphere.”
Unions have also warned of staff facing violence from pupils.
With that in mind, The Shetland Times is asking "do you think it should be easier for schools to suspend or exclude problem pupils?"
The anonymous teacher said disciplining pupils was “not as straightforward” as it had been in the past as they were “no fools” and knew how to escape punishment.
“There's no such thing as direct punishment,” the teacher said.
According to the report, 44 per cent of teachers in Scotland responding to a survey said they had experienced physical abuse and/or violence in the past year, while 90 per cent had been verbally abused. There had also been a rise in sexist comments.
But despite facing such behaviour, the anonymous teacher said they and their colleagues had to write reports for senior management highlighting disruptive behaviour, in order for action to be taken. And they said teachers had to be cautious about what they said in their reports.
“It's not as straightforward as it used to be,” they said.
“The paperwork is heavy. It almost feels at times as if they try to make it as unfriendly as possible to really put you off from writing a report about a child.”
They even explained that when a pupil, for example, swears at a teacher, the teacher is asked what they did to make the child act like that; making them feel like they were to blame.
School staff are expected to have a “natural charisma” to keep a hold of discipline in the classroom, the teacher said. They said this was increasingly difficult as pupils were “no fools” and knew what they could do to find a loophole to escape punishment.
“The kids know the words they need to use, the rights they need to refer to, to basically escape consequences,” the teacher said. “And some parents can also be very well informed about that, and use that against the school.”