CLASS TROUBLE what should be done?

LAST MONTH, teachers at an English comprehensive school threatened to strike unless Richard Wilding 13 year old boy who had behaved violently and disruptively, was removed from the school.

The strike was called off when the boy's parents and the local education authority agreed that he should remain on the school roll but divide his time between a special unit and home tuition. And just last week another English local education authority was forced by a teacher union to back down on the re-admission of another boy, Graham Cram, who they alleged had a history of disciplinary problems, bullying and of disrupting classes.

Teacher unions in Ireland say that in similar circumstances they would be prepared to support such teacher strikes here. And they warn, that unless the Department of Education moves to resolve the problem of disruptive children in schools, teachers may well be forced to resort to strike action.

Disruptive behaviour in school ranges from inattention, an inability to sit still, insolence, talking out of turn, name calling, horseplay, unsatisfactory homework, the throwing of books or paper aeroplanes during class, through vandalism, and bullying to physical aggression and drug pushing.

Although some of the infringements may appear minor, their constant repetition can become a nightmare for teachers and severely restrict the academic progress of the other students.

In a 1992/1993 survey of INTO members, lying, verbal abuse from one pupil to another, bullying and physical assault by one pupil on another were found to be the four most common serious misbehaviours in schools. Societal changes apart, one reason for the recent upsurge in disruptive behaviour is that young people are staying on longer in school, suggests John White who is assistant general secretary of the ASTI.

Schools deal with misbehaviour in a variety of ways, which range from detention to lines to rewards for good behaviour. Repeat offenders may be interviewed by class tutors, guidance counsellors or deans of discipline and are eventually referred to the principal. If all this fails, the pupil's parents may be called in and eventually the student, may be suspended for a short time.

If the misbehaviour is relentless or of an extremely serious nature, a pupil may be expelled. The problem for these suspended or expelled students is that there are no educational facilities to cater for their needs. They are literally out on the streets.

MICHAEL DOYLE, who is area supervisor with the School Attendance Department of Dublin Corporation, estimates that in the greater Dublin area there are up to 100 unplaced youngsters who have been expelled from school. The danger is he says that these children remain on the streets and become involved in petty crime and drugs.

Less than one quarter of all national schools use expulsion as a sanction, according to the INTO report "Discipline in the Primary School". Many principals at both first and second level stress that expulsion is the ultimate sanction which they would be extremely reluctant to recommend to their boards of management, since they know that an expelled student will in effect be denied an education.

In some cases, the student's home life may be so dysfunctional that school remains the child's only constant and some children, even though they are disruptive in school, are often reluctant to return home.

In many areas, groups of schools co-operate to offer places to each other's disruptive students in the hope that a change of scenery may enable a student to start afresh. However, Sean McCann, who is general secretary designate of the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools, points out that this type of co-operation is almost impossible in rural areas. Occasionally, a place for a disruptive student may be found on a YOUTHREACH project, he says.

SOME PARENTS whose children have been excluded from school have taken legal action. In the past year, the High Court has heard cases brought on behalf of up to 20 youngsters, who it is claimed, are being denied their constitutional rights. In February, the High Court ordered that a disruptive, 13 year old boy from Ballymun, Dublin, who has been out of school since last September, be provided with "at home" tuition. And just recently, the Department agreed to provide the boy with a 20 hours a week one to one tuition in a local library.

Although behavioural problems among school children are on the increase in Ireland, teachers have very few resources upon which they can call. For the most part, they are expected to soldier on and deal with disruptive pupils as best they can, even though their lives and those of other students become a misery.

The Department of Education's schools' psychological service is grossly understaffed with only 37 psychologists for the whole country. At primary level the service is only available to schools in two pilot projects. Health board psychologists are similarly overloaded and school principals in the Dublin area say that you can wait up to four years to have a pupil referred to a child guidance clinic.

The INTO report estimates that there are just under 3,000 pupils with emotional and/or behavioural disorders enrolled in ordinary classes in national schools and that there are up to 1,900 students with similar disorders at second level.

Teachers lack the training to deal adequately with these students and, at best, remedial and counselling support is scanty. Meanwhile, only 390 students obtain places at the country's 13 special national schools for emotionally disturbed children 11 in Dublin and 1 each in Galway and Kilkenny while at second level there is virtually no special educational provision for these children.

Without sufficient remedial, guidance and psychological supports, teachers believe they are being left in limbo to deal with the problem of disruptive students.

Although corporal punishment was abolished by the Department of Education in 1982, it was not until 1990 that the Department issued its guidelines on school discipline To the outsider, these guidelines, which advocate a whole school behaviour policy and a positive school ethos, seem reasonable enough, but Michael Finn, who is principal of St Joseph's National School, Donnybrook, Dublin, argues that they take little account of children who come to school with undeveloped senses of discipline or appropriate behaviour or who are emotionally disturbed.

The guidelines advocate the involvement of parents at an early stage in both developing a behaviour policy and in discussing their children's misbehaviour. However, teachers say that sometimes the parents are part of the problem. "The parents may be ill or stressed and under great pressure and be unable to do anything about their children's difficulties," notes Finn.

In any event, when you talk to educators and child care experts about the reasons for disruptive behaviour in school, it quickly becomes apparent that in some instances the use of sanctions is an ineffective way of dealing with the problem.

Of course some children, and teenagers in particular, will "try it on" and see how far they can push their teachers. Good teachers and there are very many of them who are well versed in the art of classroom management, will have no problem with this.

But there is a group of children who will behave disruptively for a variety of reasons.

PUPILS who are dyslexic, are exceptionally talented or who miss school and fail, to learn to read can become frustrated or bored in class and lash out. Similarly, children who have experienced bereavement or family break up can begin to misbehave.

The children of ineffective parents who lack the skills to manage their offspring's behaviour will also find it difficult to settle in school and obey the rules. And then there's a whole raft of deeply unhappy children whose life experiences are heart breaking. They suffer neglect, undernourishment and are left to fend for themselves at an early age. They live in appalling conditions, they have been deserted by a parent or abused physically or sexually by a close relative.

At the very least, it is pointless to expect these children to respond in any positive way to a reward or punishment system.