The Prime Minister has promised head teachers “the proper powers within the classroom to make discipline count”.
Tony Blair told journalists last week that collaboration with head teachers would be central to the government’s plans to tackle poor behaviour. An education and skills bill was expected to be included in this week’s Queen’s speech.
“I think it is a question of sitting down with the head teachers and working out the right way forward,” Blair said. “At the moment what we have done is we have provided much better provision for permanently excluded pupils but, if I am frank about it, that is only a small part of the picture and we need to go far further.”
He insisted that parents should support schools’ efforts to instil good behaviour. Citing the loss of respect in British society as an issue that had come up time and again during his election campaign, he suggested the underlying cause was a lack of discipline in some homes.
“When a teacher tells off a child in school, the response of the parent should be to back the teacher. The response of the parent should not be to go in there and start shouting the odds, because that is what gives the teacher the feeling that the parents aren’t on their side.”
Blair’s comments follow those of David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, who earlier this month demanded more respect from parents and pupils.
