OP, I have a thought. Could any of this be down to the fact that schools lack the will and resources to deal with the worst behaviour?
Very clearly, at one time (I’m 45) teachers laid down the law and parents, for the most part, supported their decisions. If I got into the most trivial bit of bother at school I made damn sure my parents didn’t find out because I’d have been in double trouble. Most teens were wary of teachers (apart from the seriously anti-social children) and for the most part ill behaviour wasn’t tolerated. I remember kids being hauled out of class for verbal rudeness, for example. I went to a very rough school. There were SMT with absolute authority and kids ran when they saw them coming because they knew they wouldn’t like the consequences. No corporal punishment in the nineties but the next step was a behaviour card, whereafter persistent offenders were removed to a separate location and taught by specialists. Thereafter, permanent exclusion. It wasn’t that uncommon for people just to be removed and not return.
However, discipline has become increasingly lax and it’s hard to believe the disintegration of behaviour within state schools has been entirely parent-led. I was recently told by a HT that there was very little she could actually do about pupil
behaviour; bullying, for example, was basically survival of the fittest. Yes, some entitled parents backed their kids, but even where they didn’t, if kids didn’t straighten up and fly right after multiple warnings, exclusion was not only a last resort, but a toothless tiger. ‘These kids want to be excluded. It’s a result’ was what we were told. ‘There’s not much we can do.’ She seemed to expect sympathy.
Our LA doesn’t want to assume responsibility for finding places for kids who are permanently excluded. It would mean taxis and inconvenience and extra expense. The consequences rest with them, and not the parents. The responsibility to educate the worst offenders elsewhere ultimately lies with the state and they don’t want to do that, there doesn’t seem to be an answer anymore.
So I think the system is broken. Lack of discipline may be partially down to lack of parental support, no doubt, but increasingly the horse is following the cart. The inevitable result is a rapidly increasing lack of respect for staff. In my son’s school, for example, there are kids who gleefully tell teachers to get fucked - literally nothing happens. Quite often it’s let go. Yet guidance will argue the toss til they’re blue in the face about what sort of jumper a child should wear. It feels a lot like they’re taking the path of least resistance, and it’s setting a very poor example. My analogy would be letting the worst criminals off Scot-free, because keeping people in prison for a lifetime costs a lot of money. ‘It’s just too complex and pricey to prosecute and incarcerate the murderers, so let’s clamp down doubly on the petty thieves and vandals.’ Where does that lead?
Which is not to say I don’t have sympathy with you as a teacher. It must be very hard to receive so little support from the people who could help you do your job well. However, I think perhaps those in charge need to work a little harder to get their own house in order.