Behaviour, is it just my school?

[PupInAPram]

In the decades I've worked here, behaviour has never been this bad. Off the scale bad. Is it something to do with my school, or is it happening in all schools?

It’s a national problem . Honestly. Not just your school .

KS1 as well.

I'm curious about the move in some LAs to a Steps behaviour management approach. It's a "a therapeutic-thinking and trauma-informed approach to behaviour".

What does that even mean though?

This is what I'm seeing with Beavers (aged 6 and 7). They are absolutely feral in a way they weren't before Covid. Other leaders think is the absence of schooling in those critical early years. They weren't in school spending a year in reception learning to listen or sit still etc. it's awful to be honest, I'm starting to really hate volunteering. If it hasn't improved by the end of this year I'll be stopping.

The dc's high school's behaviour has got much worse since covid absolutely.

My DGS's secondary school is absolutely feral.

Useless head. New teacher brought in with proven behaviour policy. Hate to think how long to turn it around

I work in Early years in an advisory role and a huge number of my caseload are made up of behaviour concerns / referrals. Several kids we just don't know how to place for primary, they are not specialist provision kids but won't last 5 mins in a mainstream reception class. Lots of kids who display demand avoidance type profiles. Kids being permanently excluded from nursery aged 3.

The problems are largely from a bigger picture way outside my pay grade, some social skills groups and behaviour management training isn't gonna cut it. The problems in this country run DEEP and the kids are feeling all of it

I have found that people’s behaviour in general has declined. I’m sure the pandemic had an impact but it definitely started beforehand, see all of these things: Intolerance of people’s views and rights, aggressive driving, using cars, electric scooters etc. in an aggressive and disrespectful manner, no sense of public space or how to behave in it, blaring videos out of devices in public, shouting to get what you want, lack of respect for public services, treating workers like you own them, rise of the far right e.g Tate, Alex Jones, GB News etc. Some behaviour during Covid: vaccine denial, mask-denial was very indicative of a shift away from a neighbourly and supportive vision of society. The breakdown of some of the pillars of civil society is also having an impact, also began before covid: policing, the judiciary, prisons, education, healthcare, all are at risk and have been for a long while. I think Covid has exacerbated and accelerated a process that was well underway.

I've worked in a first school for 8 years and this has been the worst its ever been, truly shocking and soul destroying.

I'm a primary school teacher and behaviour isn't awful, but I've certainly seen a difference since covid.
With the younger ones, attention span and maturity has declined. Our year 3 children are more like year 1.
With the older ones, kids seem far more comfortable answering back, rolling eyes and arguing with teachers despite teachers actually watching them do something.

I think parents are alot softer since covid because it gives them an easier life. Even though we all know in the long run it has the opposite effect.
Mental health in adults is declining, so the kids will follow suit.

Teachers are having to deal with all of this. I'm considering leaving this year because I'm fed up of trying to be a therapist as well as a teacher. It's just become too much.

I'm early 40's and I work in schools, they are really noisy and lively but my school was a London secondary akin to Grange Hill (probably worse) and I think nothing has changed except perhaps the children's confidence in chatting back. I don't think teachers were all particularly angels at my Grange Hill school though so behaviour should be about respect for each other IMO.

Behaviour has to start from SMT and staff all need to know they have their back. All too often they don't. Lost all respect for SMT when troubled Y5 child was finally excluded when he smashed DHT's car window, not sure it would have happened if it had been any other teacher. They'd pandered to him for ages.

I’ve heard that in the primary DS (Y1) attends it’s mainly Y2 and Y3 that are having the biggest issues behaviourally. These are the years than missed large chunks of reception/Y1 when the “learning skills” would have been introduced and by the sounds of it they’ve never caught up with the behavioural expectations. There’s also a lot of kids in these classes struggling massively academically.

Again from what I’ve heard, the current Y1 class (who had full reception, and most of which attended the school nursery throughout the winter 2021 lockdown as it stayed open) are pretty much “back to pre-Covid normal” behaviourally and academically.

Yes, we have many staff assaults (by children) daily and extreme verbal abuse.
Secondary SEMH

The tuning out of adult voices is a special skill these children posess. It is as if they are genuinely unaware of the existence of adults. The do not see, hear or acknowledge grown ups.

It makes working with children nigh on impossible, frustrating and very stressful.

This is absolutely my experience too. I've been a ks1 teacher for many years.

If anyones is a secondary teacher would you agree it gets slightly better I. The gcse years and then better in sixth form? Have had 3 kids go through with last about to go into yr10 and the lower years seem to be cereal/hunger games with shocking stories, at careers chats no one wants to he’s teacher!

Oops sorry about typos

I wonder why this seems particular to the UK though? I'm in Ireland and we had longer lockdowns than the UK and the worst behavior in my childrens secondary is sending each other silly gifs in class(and this was quickly stamped on with lunchtime detentions and phone calls to parents and never happened again). Words like 'such a lovely class', 'an absolute pleasure to teach', 'wonderful children' and on and on were used to describe my childrens classes in their recent parent teacher meetings. No 'feral children', vaping in class, dancing on tables etc would be seen as extreme, extreme behavior. They've never seen anything close to a fight break out, all of the children they speak about seem really lovely, engaged young people. There has to be a lot more to it than lockdowns.

This is what we've been using for about 5 years, maybe longer. Some schools are talking about abandoning it for a zero tolerance punitive approach.

The trouble with that is whilst most children may well manage with it, it means certain failure for some and if that's say 5% in a large secondary, that's 100 or so children doomed to fail.

Rules have become frankly more and more absurd over time, particularly in secondary schools. There is no excuse for rudeness but kids and teenagers will push back when they are under constant scrutiny. For example, uniform rules are ridiculous and have no bearing on education. Not being allowed to go to the toilet. Scrutinising haircuts. Pressures are high on young people (even in primary school). I can see why they act up.

Behaviour is difficult at my primary, I teach ks1. It's exhausting. Constant disruption, children having to be restrained and removed from class. Rudeness, screaming, crying. I can barely teach my lessons.

Awful at my primary school. Almost entirely down to lack of provision for children with additional needs. There used to be many more units for different types of behavioural/learning needs etc that no longer exist.

Other behaviour issues at my school are exacerbated by poor leadership and lack of consequences.

Genuine question- as a teenager did you not see fights break out, I did in my school and my brother went to a different school where some children threatened bus drivers etc. It was the biggest school on the country at the time so had a huge mix of children some politicians children and then those from very deprived backgrounds.

Ugh. Yes. I'm in a secondary independent and behaviour has declined terribly. I have had to use my fearsome shouty voice twice this year. I think I've used it on 3 occasions in the previous 7 or so years.

COVID, lockdowns etc probably having an impact, but children being abandoned to tech also. Literacy very poor. Lots of eye problems. Social media messing with their ability to communicate with each other. Massive underlying problems on a societal level.