Behaviour going to shit in schools

[noblegiraffe]

Government data shows that on average schools are losing about a quarter of lesson time to poor behaviour.

"In May 2023, 76 per cent of teachers reported that misbehaviour “stopped or interrupted teaching” in at least some lessons in the past week, up from 64 per cent in June 2022."

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-lose-a-quarter-of-lesson-time-to-poor-behaviour-dfe-survey/

There needs to be discussion about what is going on. As well as poor behaviour in classrooms increasing, school attendance is a massive problem, and internal truancy where kids are in school but not attending lessons is also an increasing issue.

Covid is pointed to as 'breaking the social contract between schools and families' as a reason for increasing absence. One reason for increasing absence is an increase in term-time holidays. I'm not so sure that this is a result of covid and social contracts so much as the cost of living crisis and the extortionate price of holidays out of term time. Increased sickness absence is also an issue. One wonders why the government hasn't clocked the connection between a recent pandemic and increased sickness absence. Their response is to tell parents to send children in when ill. I'm sure that will help.

But why are kids increasingly not behaving when in school?

Social media, lack of parental interest in education etc etc. No doubt they all contribute. But my theory is:

Schools are an increasingly shit experience for kids.

People keep talking about the curriculum being boring and an overloaded and dry curriculum is obviously an issue, but we've had the same curriculum for nearly a decade now. What has been getting worse, particularly in recent years?

Teacher recruitment and retention.
One thing that is massively important in schools for kids is consistency. Consistent teachers that they can build relationships with and rely on are a hugely underrated part of the school experience.

They are not getting that. Recruitment is a massive issue, so instead of having permanent teachers a lot of the time, they are getting supply. Maybe they stay for a few months, then it's someone new. If they're lucky, it's someone who knows the subject. If they're unlucky, it's a different person every day who knows nothing. If they're really unlucky (as in the case with some of my sixth form) it's no one.

Kids see cover lessons in secondary as a doss. They don't expect to have to do any work in them. I see kids head to a class with a cover teacher then the whisper to go down the corridor "Yes! We've got supply!" (Don't get me wrong there are some excellent supply teachers out there, working in increasingly challenging circumstances. But we are also in the situation of having to put a warm body, any warm body in front of a class).

It's happening more and more often. Parents are starting to complain about the amount of cover lessons their children are having. But there's nothing the school can do about it.

I've had kids come to my lesson and say 'miss, I've had cover all morning, I can't be expected to behave now'. And they're bouncing off the walls. Lack of routine, lack of consistency, lack of clear expectations and experience and they can't handle it.

And the amount of classrooms without teachers is increasing. Figures for teacher recruitment next year are grim. They were grim last year.

Expect more cover lessons.

1. Many children are not able to access the curriculum
2. Mass increase of children with additional needs versus no £ for LSAs
3. Nurture groups have been dismantled as allegedly it dumbs down rather than levels up/teaches to the top
4. LSAs are told to man the room while the teacher does 1-1 with those with SEN (as TAs have allegedly been causing overreliance/dependence/too much scaffolding)
5. Cover Supervisors/HLTAs are expected to be stop gaps for unfilled positions even if non-specialists
6. Support Staff/Cover/Supply are often not valued by their peers so why would pupils value them?
7. There needs to be a better system in place whereby substitutes' roles are more supported/empowered (e.g. pupils' punishments are doubled for misconduct when it is not their usual teacher)
8. More funding into education and SEN
9. Nurture groups and Gifted and Talented cohorts reinstated, rather than Mixed Ability for all groups
10. Schools not being punished for attendance and exclusion stats

I did 33 years on permanent contracts then 2 more on more or less full time supply contracts. I’m pulling right back (to zero I hope) now because it’s unbearable. Students want everything done for them but aren’t prepared to work or give respect to each other or the staff. I live fairly near the school that just had a stabbing and I think that’s it for me. Why would I risk my health (or even life)?

1. Students should be taught to learn how to learn
2. There should be more provision for what they'd like to learn/exploratory learning rather than learning by rote
3. There should be more emphasise on life skills/practical skills
4. There ought to be an overhaul as to what we need to teach for a future which will be led by industry 4.0/AI/sustainable living solutions
5. The school day should start and end much later, given teenage brains
6. Free School Meals, water fountains, bottled milk and breakfast clubs should be available to all, not means-tested

I'd agree with this. It's not helped by the narrow blocking for GCSE choices, kids being forced to drop subjects that they actually enjoy in order to tick the boxes required by school - 1 humanity, 1 language, 3 sciences, maths, English, RE and before you know it the kids who like art, DT, drama etc only have the choice of one free subject. Our kids hated that, one made herself ill taking a ridiculous amount of subjects so she could fit in what she loved. Other kids just disengage.

@noblegiraffe I think your first post summed it up nicely. I think you're right, teacher recruitment and retention is key, but factors like increased sickness due to long term effects of COVID (COVID is known to damage your immune system) are always ignored. A thought provoking and insightful post, as always. Thank you.

Too much over the top and unfair behaviour management has the opposite effect of what they hope to achieve. There is only so much scolding for pathetic reasons that a good, well behaved, kind child can take before they switch off from it all together.

Good, well-behaved, kind children don't get scolded, because they comply with the rules.

I'm sick of crap parents who don't support the school and see their child being expected to wear a uniform, sit down and be quiet as a massive infringement of their human rights.

Consistency of teacher is massively underrated in teaching

Absolutely. We have a number of classes who've had supply after supply after supply... and those kids are so hard to get on task because noone has ever been "their" teacher.

Too much over the top and unfair behaviour management has the opposite effect of what they hope to achieve. There is only so much scolding for pathetic reasons that a good, well behaved, kind child can take before they switch off from it all together.'

And yet Michaela with their ultra strict behaviour policy has the best progress 8 score in the country.

Yes, but Michaela has buy-in from the parents. I doubt you send your child to Michaela without knowing exactly what you're signing up for. That's not at all the same scenario as sending your child to your local, and possibly only convenient, school and potentially having to put up with draconian rules about utter trivialities. Schools need to be tough on actual poor behaviour and stop pretending that being super strict over inconsequential things has a knock-on effect on big things.

This, if we think it is bad now, wait until these children get older.
I was in a meeting with the parents of a Y1 child who had been having meltdowns and hurting other children and his teacher. The parents were clear that the way to avoid this was not to make any demands on him, that was what worked at home. There advice was as he was struggling with the demands of when to be inside / outside, when to have lunch it would best to let him choose when these things happened!

That's going to be amazing when he's 15 and built like a rugby player.

Thanks, parents.

I totally hear what you're saying, however cover isn't a factor I our school we are fully staffed with one PPA cover who does each class for 1/2 a day.
Yet, our behaviour has had the same year on year decline.
It must be a combination of factors.

😂 I'm a crap parent? Ok then.

I'm so thankful that I gained my first class honours degree in education during the mid 00s when we considered the whole child, inclusion, relationship building and encouraging a love of learning to be important.

Sadly, due to Gove, his abominable policies, and everything since which put unrealistic expectations on both child and teacher, both I and my children have left the system all together.

I couldn't agree more. I currently have a girl from my year 11 class who's not been in class for weeks. She is failing most subjects. She's not been in class because of wearing fake eyelashes so she's been isolated.

Obviously she could take them off but I have actually taken time to talk to her and she has some really deep rooted anxiety around her appearance as well as failing and thinking no one in the school cares.

I'm absolutely furious about it. I've worked so hard to help her improve her trade and now she has no revision support. Borderline "pass" grade. Will now probably fail.

And I'm not allowed to question it.

Another example is the many, many children subject to children's social care, who are being sent home (yes, to that very less than ideal environment) for minor uniform infringements. They spend the day out of education and away from adults who can ensure their safety, because they have the wrong denier tights on our forgot their tie!

My DD is a newly qualified teacher in a school in a relatively prosperous area. This is exactly what she has described. It horrifies me the way that kids and parents speak to her.

@ChicaneOvenchips

I just feel like there's less care now. Been teaching for 20 years, met some amazing disadvantaged kids with so much potential. They seem to have less and less help and more and more nagging about trivial shit

I don't know what to say about behaviour in primary schools right now, it seems to be an absolute binfire.

The current system is completely outdated and has not changed much since the early 20th century. We are trying to shove square pegs into round holes instead of offering a varied and multi faceted curriculum that caters to all strengths. Students by the time they hit secondary or even before that are totally disengaged with school. Their experience of Year 6 is basically a SAT factory. Depressing.

On top of that we have social media, mental health crisis, staffing crisis, underfunding of schools in general, underfunding of external agencies, a lack of pastoral care, poor parenting and it’s all just a recipe for disaster. I teach secondary.

It is no doubt a combination of things - effect of lockdowns, screens, social media, parents not being around or engaged, outdated curriculum that feels irrelevant to most teens, high stakes exams at 16 - but I agree that the general instability in most schools is a key factor.

Difficulties recruiting and retaining are at crisis point. Children need adults who are consistently and predictably in their lives - so many schools just can't provide this now, not for want of trying. They need adults who are on top of their brief, in terms of knowing what they're teaching, what the behaviour policies are, and that they can rely on SLT for support. Children with additional needs need additional help, that simply isn't there.

Secondary school aged children are the product of 14 years of Tory austerity. It's not just that, but the government sure as hell haven't done anything to mitigate the problems that weren't of their causing.

Absolutely spot on. It's the same at primary.

Schools are an increasingly shit experience for kids

This from the OP sums it up nicely.

Specifically for academic kids with SEN just attending is simply unbearable.

Teacher recruitment and retention are key, as is discipline (but on things that matter, not how many stripes of little Jane's tie is showing!)

Teacher and SEN parent.
Children with moderate learning differences and neurosiversity are finding mainstream settings increasingly difficult places. Attempting to access a curriculum which is too full and too inflexible -through no fault of teachers‐ and with little learning support, is crushing, soul-destroying for a cohort of young learners for whom learning is already a huge challenge. No wonder anxiety in schools is at an all-time high and so many young people are not able to attend at all.

All children would benefit from smaller settings, including at secondary school, with integrated SEN resource bases, enabling learners with moderate SEN to benefit from the social development opportunities of mainstream settings and remaining part of their local communities, without crumpling under the pressures of unattainable curriculum targets.

I blame the conservatives forcing special needs kids into mainstream school. I blame cuts to mental health services in a time with the worst rates of poor mental health in our kids we have ever seen. I blame poor pay and larger class sized exhausting good teachers. I blame the family court forcing children to have contact with abusive parents. I blame social media teaching our kids they are wrong how they are.

I have a violent special needs child. The teacher had to evacuate the class multiple times to keep the other kids safe. He was restrained and locked in a tiny room as the staff didn't know how to meet his needs or how to keep him or other safe. Consequently he became terrified of school and teachers and behaviour got to bad now no school will take him. On top of the behaviour side he also regularly soils himself and his mainstream teacher/TAs were expected to manage that when he's fighting being cleaned up. How can any teacher can be expected to teach with such high need children in their classes?!

I know many parents of similar kids with similar experiences. I've had to fight the LA to get them to accept he should not be in mainstream school. I quit my job as he can't attend school amd while I've fought for him to get a school place I've never fought the mainstream school to keep him when they and I agree they can't. But many parents can't quit work. Many parents don't have the resources to take the LA to court for an appropriate school place.

I also work in early years. Over the last 20 years I've watched the funding stagnate while cost of living increases and grants dry up. CPF Training provided by LA rare and no longer free so people do bare minimum ratios have increased so you have more kids to the same numbers of adults. EYFS early years curriculum has changed multiple times so workers are spending lots of time re learning it. And the quality of the workers is not always great. Used to be respected as a professional when I started now you are seen as a babysitter not educator. Kids go into school with less self care skills than previously. Research shows those foundation years impacts their whole life but the quality of care continues to deteriorate as the money and hours amd respect is just shit

Thing is, those of us who teach in not-super strict schools, who don't nag kids for stupid reasons or minor infringements or uniform, are still experiencing shockingly poor behaviour that is exponentially worse than two years ago
So, that can't be the reason (or not the only one.

Many teachers leaving the profession. Lots of subs.

Also.. my DD school got taken over by an academy and the difference is marked in a year.

Much more emphasis on not being late to lessons. Less on earrings and nail varnish.

The isolation room closed. I cannot believe such a barbaric prison esque feature was even used. Seems like it's common in state funded schools.

School cultures are poor. Too much overcrowding.

Not enough assessment and year end exams which focuses the minds.

Also more mixed ability classes which I just think leads to more messing about.

As it's not cool to work hard.

Costs going up due to fuel and Liz Truss so less money to pay for staff and good subs.

Staff ill and leaving.