TUI claims 'breakdown in society' is fuelling school discipline crisis

TUI conference: Teachers are bearing the brunt of a serious breakdown in society which is fuelling disciplinary problems in schools, according to a new policy paper to be published today by the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI).

Incidents of indiscipline have increased significantly in both frequency and seriousness since the last formal study on the issue was conducted in 1997, according to the union, which is holding its annual congress in Galway this week.

Its policy paper proposes a community-based approach to tackling the problem, involving students, parents, teachers and management. This would involve participation in a "home-school" contract, which would allow for sanctions and interventions where breaches occur. However, the approach must also be backed up by appropriate resources, and by State support for schools' "inherent authority" when in loco parentis, it emphasises.

The authors of the new policy say that indiscipline is now widespread and not just confined to areas of social deprivation. "There is a whole cult of youth - reflected in the sort of drinking seen during St Patrick's Day - which adults don't want to face up to," Mr Tommy Glynn,chairman of the TUI's second-level VEC sub-committee and principal at Coláiste Cholmcille in Inverin, Co Galway, said at a press briefing yesterday.

"There has been a breakdown in family and society, which schools are bearing the brunt of. There appears to be no fear of gardaí, teachers and the normal figures of authority," Mr Glynn said. "The sort of behaviour which caused such controversy on St Patrick's Day comes as no surprise to teachers who are aware of this problem."

Mr Glynn said that the TUI policy paper, which was a year in preparation, aimed to take a positive approach, and to acknowledge that the vast majority of students are well-behaved.

However, it highlights the union's belief that recent legislation, specifically the Education Act 1998, and the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, had given rights without responsibilities to individual students and parents - without balancing this against the rights of teachers, and the community at large.

Under section 28 of the Education Act 1998, parents or students over the age of 18 can appeal a teacher's decision to the board of management. In each case, the board of management has to take "appropriate remedial action where necessary".

Under the same section, a parent or group of parents whose child or children's behaviour is being seriously disrupted by the inappropriate behaviour of another student or students can also refer the matter to the board.

As the union's policy document states, the TUI believes that the right of an individual student, whose repeated misbehaviour detracts from the learning of other students, cannot be severed from the right of other students whose learning is affected.

Checks on teachers are "many in number and rigorous in nature", it says, under the recent legislation, and "too often" there is a temptation to blame teachers for student disruption.

The document calls for support from the Department of Education and Science for the "inherent authority" of schools, and "support for teachers as they stand in the shoes of the parents of the children they teach".

It says that the High Court has traditionally been supportive of the authority of schools and teachers - where they acted reasonably and within the law - but provisions in recent legislation appeared to have deterred schools from suspending or expelling troublesome pupils.

This was because any such decision could be overturned by a "section 29" appeal under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000. If the school was ordered to re-admit a student, this could have a "consequent visible weakening" effect on disciplinary structures, it says.

It also emphasises that parents' support is vital and recommends that parents should be required to confirm in writing that the school's code of behaviour is acceptable to them.