Silly things teachers think will work

In that case then whatever works-but it isn't where I would send my DCs.

exoticfruits they are not asked to leave because schools don't receive funding for students who don't compete courses. Also in some cases asking students to leave condemns them to the sort of life we want them to avoid. The next time I see them they might be doing something far worse than messing about in cass.

Some sixth formers love things that they last experienced when much younger. For example stickers are very popuar with my sixth formers. They love them in a sort of "ironic" ( that's tennager type ironic) way but are motivated by them. I don't know about red and yellow cards but all these things depend in the end on the personality of and relationship with the teacher using them.

I think the OP does not understand the reality of behaviour in schools today. It is very shocking for someone with a 10/20/30 year old memory of what school was like.
As a parent I simply wouldn't put up with a school like that. Mine went to a comprehensive and it isn't the reality in all schools! Phone up-ask why they are teaching 6 form pupils who need a card system-why are they not asked to leave?

If they can't behave in a sixth form lesson there is no point in them being there. As a parent I would give them a stark choice-stop messing about or leave and get a job.

I don't have bad behaviour in my lessons, but I believe that the yellow/red card thing is very effective.

Obviously, it comes from football, so immediately connects with many students.

It is something that a teacher can do non-verbally, so does not add to disruption of the lesson for those students who are eager to learn.

Teachers have other non-verbal strategies, such as writing a student's name in the board and adding tally marks to indicate the severity of the punishment.

I think the OP does not understand the reality of behaviour in schools today. It is very shocking for someone with a 10/20/30 year old memory of what school was like.

I think the red/yellow card thing sounds like a really good idea - DS would probably respond quite well to that (year 11), a quick way of warning you are going a bit to far with the chatting/showing off (more likely to be showing off ) to get you back to focusing on the lesson.

I was so busy being outraged by the rest of it I didn't notice that! WHAT??

How on earth is there a correlation between how good/ reasonable/ effective a teacher you are and whether or not you have children of their own? Madness. Most of the people I work with say they were actually better teachers before they had children, because they had so much more time!

(And while I hate to be a pedant OP, if you're going to criticise anything to do with education, you should probably proof-read your posts.)

Or perhaps the OP didn't mention the cards being used with relevant consequences because she was too busy trying to convey how ludicrous the whole idea was. And don't even get me started on "I presume these teachers have no children of their own."

The OP didn't mention a consequence, which I took to suggest there wasn't one (I haven't read the whole thread though). If there was, why would she be complaining about it being a method of discipline? With a consequence, I would imagine that method to be an effective way of disciplining anyone of school age.

Casma, I would imagine the red card probably does have consequences - it will represent something, for example, a detention or extra work. Why would a teacher just stand around waving cards??

I do love a good bit of teacher bashing of a Saturday afternoon. Work 9-3, all those holidays, and even then they can't pitch lessons appropriately.

I have used circle time with 15 year olds- in fact, an Ofsted inspector observed me doing so. The lesson was rated outstanding.

I didnt mean I agree as in that they are to blame, I meant I agree in as it seems to they do get blamed.

I agree with teachers getting the blame for students crappy behaviour, when it should fall to the students themselves and their upbringing.

My bestfriends son is very ermmmm challenging, she blames everyone for his appaling(sp?) behaviour, when spending half an hour in her household you can see its thier lazy parenting style, yet the blame the school and claim they are picking on him, in reality the teachers have been very very good with him and are the only ones trying to discipline him, I actually worry about this child and how he will cope when he hits his teenage years.

Sorry didnt mean to derail.

Everyone's an expert. Sigh. The reason for what goes on in any classroom can be complex. And yes, sometimes it's poor teaching or misjudged situations. Assuming its always ineptitude is wrong.

I've seen GCSE students motivated by stickers which you would expect them to be too old for. Who knows what won't work with any particular group of students without trying it?

Not just boys, in my experience. There are plenty of girls who won't behave themselves either.

Unfortunately, a lot of 17 year old boys DON'T know how to behave and it does not fall to the ordinary classroom teacher to tell them to leave school. not that I haven't suggested it to them

I've used all sorts of 'childish' motivational techniques to get my senior boys to learn because unfortunately I'm still judged on their results!

Totally inappropriate IMO. Teenagers are, on the whole, selfish people so to get them to react you need something which will impact on them (e.g. detention). If there are no consequences to having received a red card, why would students care about getting one?

I am not, however, a teacher so I would trust that they know what they're doing to manage the pupils.

Chloe,
Many teachers work in school with totally inefficient, spineless Senior Leadership Teams. The kind who will bring a student, previously removed by the teacher for massive disruption, straight back as 'she's very sorry and is going to be good now.'
Luckily for my sanity, I don't, but I have friends who do. If those teachers know their sanctions are't going to be backed up by SLT, I don't blame them for taking any disciplinary measures they can think of to keep order in class - however juvenile they may seem.

If a 6th former cant cope with a lesson then they should be told to leave the room. What is the point in going to sixth form if you are unable to cope with a class. They should get an apprenticeship, or try and get a job to learn how precious an education is. Why would a teacher pander to their disruption by playing the red card game. Millionaire footballers become icons by getting red cards and its a badge of honor not a punishment. I hate the PC system where children are closeted and we wonder why we employers wont give them jobs.

Are you in England Esme? As I said I'm not fully aware of the situation in England. In Scotland you need a university degree to be a GTC registered teacher - and you can't teach without registration.

cloudpuff I really don't know, but it seriously bothers me. Their utter lack of interest in their subject and their disregard for other people is just shocking to me.

Nebulous yes, this constant need to blame teachers for everything that's wrong in the classroom is really bothersome. Yes, there are a lot of things we can do to improve behaviour and to ensure that all children are learning. At some point, they have to take some responsibility instead.

I used to teach English as a foreign language, and had a student complain he failed an exam because of me, because I didn't teach him the right stuff. He only came to about one class a week instead of five. He was an adult. All the other students passed.

'How are these people gonna cope in employment if they cant keep quiet for a few hours?'

It's not even the keeping quiet, it's the disruption to everyone else's learning that is also unacceptable.

Although the general consensus of if a child is unwilling to learn, or messing around, it is always the teacher's fault and thus their responsibility to do something about it.
That's been the norm for a couple of decades.
Because the pupil has little responsibility to take their own learning seriously and be independent, even when they are almost adult.