Williamson to focus on bad pupil behaviour

Today’s GCSE results will reflect our endeavour to create a world-class system for the opportunities ahead

Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, is to launch a review into teacher training that will focus on implementing stricter behaviour strategies. “Persistent disruptive behaviour” accounts for the highest proportion of pupil expulsions, according the latest official figures.

TEACHERS will be given training to make them tougher with unruly children as part of a government drive to restore discipline to the classroom.

Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, is to launch a review into teacher training, focusing on implementing stricter behaviour strategies.

“Persistent disruptive behaviour” accounts for the highest proportion of pupil expulsions, according the latest official figures. This was cited as the cause for 34 per cent of all permanent exclusions last year, up from 29.6 per cent a decade ago.

It is also the most common reason given for suspensions, accounting for 30 per cent last year, up from 23.3 per cent in 2008-9.

Writing in today’s Daily Telegraph, Mr Williamson said: “Top of my list will be to give teachers the support they need to tackle poor behaviour.

“This can lead to bullying, as well as disruption in classes, preventing teachers from doing their essential jobs and preventing pupils from learning. All schools should provide a safe learning environment, and everyone in them should be able to go about their business without fear of intimidation by a small minority of disruptive pupils.”

Under Ofsted’s new inspection regime, which comes into force next month, schools will be marked down if pupils misbehave and are discourteous to each other.

The revamped framework includes “behaviour and attitudes” as a standalone category for the first time.

The move follows research by Ofsted that revealed a rise in “low level” disruption such as children playing on their mobile phones and other electronic devices in the classroom. Sean Harford, Ofsted’s national director for education, said earlier this year that the new category was bought in to recognise that low-level disruption is on the rise in classrooms, adding: “If every child behaved at school, the standards would rocket up.”

A task force will be set up to ensure that schools with the most effective discipline regimes can teach others how to overhaul their systems.

Tom Bennett, who will lead the task force, has previously blamed progressive teaching methods for fuelling the rise in poor behaviour. He said progressivism, the dominant ideology in education which became popular in the Sixties and Seventies, had led to lowlevel disruption going unchallenged.

Mr Williamson’s intervention comes as thousands of students pick up their GCSE results today. They are the first group to take the reformed courses in virtually all subjects.

The new GCSES were created by Michael Gove, the former education secretary, as part an attempt to inject rigour into the qualifications and bring the UK in line with top-performing countries in the Far East.

This morning, more than half a million 16-year-olds will be on tenterhooks as they wait for their GCSE results. Add in half a million anxious families who are sharing the wait and you’ve got a sizeable chunk of Britain biting their fingernails at breakfast. Astonishingly, I am only the second Education Secretary to have gone to a comprehensive, but I can tell you, it doesn’t matter what kind of school you go to, getting your GCSE results is a big deal.

Today marks the culmination of years of hard work by not just all those pupils but their teachers, too. Not only have they had to prepare for public exams but they have also been adapting to new, more rigorous

qualifications. These are part of the reforms to restore confidence in a system that had been undermined by grade inflation. And I’m delighted that many of those anxious pupils will be getting good news. The reforms to the curriculum and qualifications we began in 2010 are starting to bear fruit. Provisional data shows entries in the sciences and computing are rising. These are the subjects that will be vital for Britain’s businesses in the future.

I was also pleased to see from these early indications that the number of entries to core Ebacc subjects is up on last year. Ebacc subjects are the backbone of any student’s education: they are valued by parents and are proven to best equip pupils for further study or the workplace. Providing an Ebacc curriculum not only helps to drive up standards, it has also been shown to support social mobility, with the potential to transform the lives of pupils from poorer backgrounds.

The Ebacc has been instrumental in halting the decline in uptake of modern foreign languages (MFL) at GCSE, too. Today’s results are expected to show a rise in the number of MFL entries, particularly in Spanish and French. The data also suggest a rise in arts subjects overall, showing that schools can combine the Ebacc with a broader academic provision that enhances a pupil’s education.

We will continue to encourage take-up in languages and the arts. We want all pupils to have the chance to study subjects that are going to set them up for the future and will stretch them creatively. Education is not just about core subjects, although these are, of course, vitally important. It has to provide for different talents and aptitudes, and establish a launchpad for numerous different careers.

Pupils have a range of post-16 options to choose from, and many will choose vocational or technical study. This is an area in which I have a special interest and I have taken on this portfolio myself. Creating a world-class technical and vocational education system is a priority because, as Britain prepares to leave the EU, our economic prosperity will depend on it.

Our reforms mean that we are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead: apprenticeships are flourishing, with growing numbers of young people applying to take these high-quality programmes, where they can earn and learn at the same time. From September next year, pupils will also be able to take the first raft of T-levels, our new technical qualifications that will transform the post-16 landscape. These results will appear on the same day as A-levels, reflecting their status.

The Prime Minister has tasked my department with a number of priorities that go beyond Brexit. We will continue our work to build a world-class education system that will equip every pupil with the knowledge and skills they need to make their way in the world. We will also continue to embed the recruitment and retention strategy, to ensure that there are more brilliant teachers in front of classes to help future generations of pupils through their GCSES and beyond.

Top of my list will be to give teachers the support they need to tackle poor behaviour in schools. This can lead to bullying, as well as disruption in classes, preventing teachers from doing their job and preventing pupils from learning. All schools should provide a safe learning environment, and everyone in them should be able to go about their business without fear of intimidation by a minority of pupils.

Today is a milestone in many young lives. I want to congratulate all of those who are picking up their results and wish them well for whatever lies ahead.