School Discipline and the Law

One of the main concerns of new teachers is how to control unruly pupils in the classroom.

The Education and Inspections Act 2006 added a whole range of disciplinary powers to the teachers' arsenal.

The provisions of the Act apply at any time when pupils are under the control of a teacher, whether in official school time or not. The powers given by the Act also apply to other staff with responsibility for controlling pupils, such as teaching assistants, cover supervisors and lunchtime supervisors.

The Act allows the following:

• Power to discipline pupils for misbehaviour outside the school gates: Schools' discipline and behaviour policies may allow teachers to regulate pupil behaviour when they are off school premises and not under the direct control of school staff. Such instances might include when the pupils are causing a nuisance on their journey to and from school or when off school premises at lunchtime. The teacher could then discipline the pupils concerned on their return to school.
• Punishing poor behaviour: Teachers have power to encourage good and punish bad behaviour. Every school should have an agreed behaviour policy, which sets out a clear framework for managing pupil behaviour.
• Detention: Any pupil under the age of 18 can be put on detention, assuming it is a clearly publicised part of the school's behaviour policy. Parents need to be given 24 hours written notice if the detention occurs outside normal school hours. Parents can let you know if this causes particular inconvenience, but they cannot over-rule your decision.
• Confiscation: There is now a specific legal defence for confiscating an inappropriate item from a pupil where the item is confiscated lawfully. This includes a defence for confiscation, holding onto and disposing of the item provided the actions taken are reasonable. If confiscation is used it must be mentioned in the school's behaviour policy.
• Exclusion: The head teacher has the power to exclude pupils if necessary. This can either be permanently or for a fixed term.
• Searching pupils and their possessions: The head teacher may authorise a search of pupils and their possessions if there is reasonable grounds to do so. At present this law only applies to searches for weapons, but from September 2010 will be extended to searches for alcohol, controlled drugs and stolen property. Reasonable force may be used to execute the search. Pupil searches can be undertaken by school staff apart from teachers, including those employed specifically for the role. Teachers cannot be required to search pupils. Teachers may demand that a pupil turns out their pockets and punish them if they refuse to do so.
  
• Screening pupils for weapons: School staff can scan pupils for weapons using portable wands or screening arches. Teachers cannot be required to screen pupils.
• Use of force to control or restrain a pupil: Teachers can use reasonable force to control or restrain a pupil if this proves necessary to prevent a pupil from committing a criminal offence, causing injury or damage to property, or prejudicing good order and discipline. This would include physically guiding a pupil from the classroom if they had failed to leave when ordered to. Legislation requires schools to record all "significant" instances where a teacher has used force to control or restrain a pupil.

Previously, teachers had been allowed to restrain pupils under common law, with the same authority as parents.

But the Education and Inspections Act 2006 explicitly states that teachers have the right to physically restrain and remove unruly pupils, and impose detention, including sessions outside school hours and on Saturdays.

Welcome news at a time when anti-social behaviour at school and in the wider community is on the rise.

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Observations

As a trainee teacher you're going to be under much closer scrutiny than you care to imagine. It's reasonable to say that anything you say or do, whether in or out of the classroom, could be used by the school to form a judgement about you.

One of the biggest stresses of my training was having lessons officially observed. In my first placement this happened virtually every lesson, with no discernible benefit to me because they couldn't be bothered to give me any written feedback. I literally had to fight for every observation report and piece of evidence for my standards book.

Thankfully my second school took its teacher training responsibilities seriously and only observed me twice a week and at a mutually agreed time. In any scheme of work there are lessons that don't lend themselves to being observed - the lessons where you sit the pupils down to a half hour test, have them tidy up their exercise books/folders or set them a revision task.

Observations will vary from school to school but the good practice in my second school involved the following:

• The generic mentor would come to me on a Friday afternoon and we'd negotiate the following week's observations. I always plan a couple of lessons ahead, so I'd know which lessons were best to observe. Two observations would be planned. The generic mentor would conduct one of the observations and the subject mentor the other.
• By this stage I would have already booked the equipment for the following week and the technician would check everything for me.
  
• I'd spend the weekend preparing my lessons for the following week (certainly Monday and Tuesday's lessons anyway). I'd make sure all the lesson plans were written and run through the sequence in my mind a few times. I would also prepare any presentations and worksheets that I needed.
• On the morning of the observation I'd make doubly sure that all of the equipment was in working order and where I wanted it. I'd also ensure I had two copies of my lesson plan and all the paper resources I needed (worksheet, textbooks etc).
• On arrival at the observed lesson I would hand the teacher observing me a copy of the lesson plan and paper resources. They'd scrutinise the plan at the same time as my lesson was in progress. They'd make notes throughout the lesson, which they'd usually write up neatly later on.
  
• I'd try my best to work to the plan, but you've got to accept that lessons don't always go to plan. I sometimes have to change things as I work because it takes the pupils longer to do something than anticipated. When you're new to a class you occasionally pitch the work at too high a level, so it takes you longer to explain things. If you have a good mentor they will appreciate the reasons why you've deviated from the plan and they won't hold it against you.
• At the end of the observed lesson the teacher observing me would disappear to their own lesson. They would find the time to write up their observation report and come and see me later that day. Sometimes they would discuss aspects of the lesson with me before writing up the observation.
• Your school should be giving you regular written feedback. If they think you're in danger of failing the placement they need to recognise it early and produce evidence to support their opinion. If they never gave you a written observation report and then decided to fail you late in the placement then you'd have genuine cause for complaint.

That's the way observed lessons should be.

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