More money Minister: The key to a solution for school discipline crisis

Many Irish second-level schools are facing a crisis in discipline. But the Government's effort to address the problem lacks real conviction - not to mention sufficient resources. Minister for Education Mary Hanafin must use this week's Estimates and the Budget to put things right, writes Declan Glynn

Two decades after the issuing of the first national report on discipline in post-primary schools, and two national reports later, the established pattern of Government underachievement on school discipline is continuing.

Last year the Government allocated just €2 million in response to its Task Force on Student Behaviour. This seed funding helped to establish the new Behaviour Support Service for schools. More is expected in the Estimates later this week, but will it be sufficient to break the pattern of government underachievement?

So what kind of funding is required? After a 2001 report (Better Behaviour: Better Learning) outlined the extent of the problem in Scotland, the Executive there responded swiftly. Some €32 million was spent each year in the first three years after the report was issued. In 2005, this was supplemented by a €53 million package to allow for the appointment of additional support staff in schools such as classroom assistants and behaviour co-ordinators. Some 600 appointments have already been made.

In England and Wales €461 million has been assigned this year alone to its Behaviour Improvement Programme. Even accounting for scale, the poverty of our Government's response is stark and disquieting; especially in view of the State's current budget surplus.

It is now almost nine months since the Task Force report made its recommendations. Some welcome legislative change is promised; this will strengthen focus on the rights of other pupils and teachers when appeal boards consider a pupil's appeal against suspension or expulsion from school.

Otherwise we have seen only the establishment of the Behaviour (Education) Support Service (Best) and the promise, some time in the future, of behaviour support classrooms in certain schools.

It is difficult to see how the new Behaviour Support Service could fulfil its brief because of its severe shortage of staff. Even though it is a national service, it consists solely of 19 education personnel.

Behaviour (Education) Support Services in Britain provide a complementary mix of education, social work and health skills. Their work is heavily weighted towards individual case management, followed by groupwork for pupils and parents.

Early intervention is central to their role, and they nominate, from within their number, a key worker to assist pupils identified as being particularly at-risk.

Few teachers seem convinced that the Irish Best, as currently funded, is capable of providing anything like this service. A significant increase in staff numbers is required immediately, including professionals from other sectors, including health and social services, and teachers seconded to the service on a full-time basis. The forthcoming Budget can rectify this problem.

The requirement that schools admit to a general crisis in student behaviour to avail of the Behaviour Support Service is inappropriate and unworkable. Not surprisingly, many - even those with very serious discipline problems - are reluctant to do this for fear of being stigmatised locally.

The TUI is aware of some schools that have already declined to apply for assistance. Instead, the Best team itself should identify the services it will provide to schools. An individual school could then apply for the kind of assistance it needs from a menu provided by the support service.

There are other aspects of the approach to discipline which are puzzling. The Task Force report states that behaviour support classrooms should be established "only in those schools where there is a genuine need for them". The truth is this - there's a genuine need for them everywhere. Behaviour support classrooms are classrooms to which pupils struggling with their learning and behaviour are referred in a planned and positive way. For the overall sake of the school, teachers must, of course, have this kind of facility available - indeed it was first recommended by an expert group over two decades ago.

The 2005 report of the Expert Practitioners Group on School Behaviour and Discipline in England recommends that all secondary school pupils should have access to a Learning Support Unit. There are 1,500 Learning Support Units in England and Wales and almost every secondary school in Scotland has one. Inspection reports in Scotland have confirmed their success in improving motivation, behaviour and attendance, and reducing suspensions and expulsions.

Internal support classrooms are essential for every school. But the Department appears to favour only a limited - and less costly - service.

The apparent refusal to consider implementing many other recommendations of the Task Force report is particularly difficult for school communities to accept.

Two of the crucial recommendations which have been ignored concern reducing class sizes and allocating time to teachers to meet adequately the onerous demands of their key pastoral care roles. Time to "follow-up" with pupils would hugely improve schools' pastoral care capacity. Time is the ingredient essential to better management of student behaviour.

The Task Force acknowledges that it is very difficult to provide personalised learning and individualised attention for pupils in large classes, still so common in the Irish system. Research in Britain and the US points to a clear link between smaller classes and better classroom behaviour.

Funding should be put in place immediately to reduce class sizes, commencing with schools serving high concentrations of students located in areas of concentrated disadvantage.

• Other Task Force recommendations which must be implemented include:
• A national programme of specialised training for teachers in areas related to student behaviour.
• An induction programme for first-year pupils.

The recruitment of additional personnel to the National Educational Psychological Service.

Finally, it is essential that a monitoring group is established, truly representative of all the partners in education, to work collaboratively on implementation of the Task Force report.

In view of the clear problems - and the abject underfunding - TUI insists that the Government quickens the pace of change and invests heavily to combat indiscipline in our schools. Minister Mary Hanafin deserves great credit for establishing the Task Force but it will, once again, be an opportunity wasted if its recommendations are ignored. Thursday's Estimates will say much about the minister's commitment to this crucial issue. This time on discipline she can make a real difference.

• Declan Glynn is assistant general secretary of the Teachers' Union of Ireland

Bad behaviour:The fall-out for teachers

The following are excerpts from letters sent by teachers to the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) about the discipline crisis in schools.

Teacher A: Teaching is no longer teaching. I am putting in 10 times the effort the last few years and getting so little in return. There is so much demanded from us as teachers. We are no longer seen as human beings - we have absolutely no rights and are deemed responsible for everything that happens. It is 'watch your back' all the time.

I want out. I resent the exhaustion at end of term - my head is in a spin daily - there is so much going on, to be done.

Now it's a case of survive from day to day. It's my wages - to pay the mortgage. The worst of it all is we have no back-up and are told we have to put up with all these abusive students. Just getting rid of two to three per class of those very disruptive students would make all the difference. The tolerance belief does not work.

Teacher B : I believe there is a small percentage of students who are simply not suited to mainstream education for a number of reasons, family background, ability, various disorders, etc. These students are at the centre of much disruption and stress in the classroom and are responsible for other students not reaching their potential.

Teaching time is down, classroom atmosphere is wrong, teacher/student interaction is wrong due to the on-going correction of these students.

Teacher C: What can the class teacher do where there is constant low-level indiscipline, for example can a teacher send a disruptive pupil out of the classroom?

Where a pupil is deemed dangerous in a workshop or laboratory, whose rights take priority - the health and safety of the teacher and the rest of the class or the right of the disruptive student?

Teacher D: It is important that the genuine student be allowed gain the education they are entitled to. We must be prepared to tackle those students who are undermining the present educational system and making life difficult for both teachers and students alike.

Teacher E: The transfer of a student to another school is frequently not an option. Until the DES proposes a solution to this problem it is difficult to see how the rights of the majority can be vindicated.

Teacher F: This assumption that values are shared is no longer tenable. It is obvious that there is a serious break down in our value system in Ireland today.