The challenge for English schools in responding to current debates on behaviour and violence

Abstract

The riots in English cities in August 2011 have brought debates on behaviour of young people into sharper focus. Criticism of softly-softly approaches and the lack of power for head teachers to discipline is a reoccurring theme within the debate on behaviour in schools. Regaining adult authority is also reflected in the tenor of the government’s 2010 White Paper on Schools ‘The Importance of Teaching’, where emphasis was placed on increasing powers in school to maintain a culture of discipline and respect. The subsequent Education Act 2011 has devoted a whole chapter to discipline and it is a clear that this is a focus for government attention. Commenting on the direction of government policy, the English schools’ minister Nick Gibb was quoted in an article in The Guardian as saying: ‘Weak discipline remains a significant problem in too many of our schools and classrooms, and tackling poor behaviour and raising academic standards are key priorities for the coalition government’ (2 August 2011, p. 2). Arguments about behaviour and violence in schools are of course laced with complexity because they raise concerns about young people and social values in society, which in turn raise questions about the relationship between parents, young people and social institutions. Debates about behaviour and violence are therefore caught in a moral maze, as Hayden (2007) notes: ‘Teachers and schools focus most on various pupil “behaviours”. Most often they refer to disruptive, disaffected and bullying behaviours, or sometimes behaviour that is said to be challenging’. All of these labels therefore make it difficult for the various types of behaviours to be properly understood within the context of the school. Drawing on existing research literature, the article will analyse the challenges facing schools in addressing diversity of behaviour including violence. Specifically, the article will consider the pressures on schools to perform alongside meeting wider educational goals.

Keywords:

• schools
• behaviour
• violence
• policy
• learning
• pedagogy