Discipline issue shows need for respect

There appears to be little widespread public desire for a return to the strap.

NAUGHTY schoolkids have been around since . . . there were first schoolkids. But trouble at the New Zealand chalkface has been rising, statistics on school violence have revealed. The number of serious assaults resulting in injury rose from 50 to 81 from 2001 to 2011, and the number of sexual assaults more than trebled from 33 to 116. The Post Primary Teachers’ Association has instructed members to report assaults on teachers to police.

The trend is indicative of a breakdown of wider society, many believe. A Fairfax poll revealed 71 per cent of those surveyed consider discipline is lacking in schools. Respondents thought schoolkids were playing up because of poor discipline at home and a lack of respect. An OECD report covering 2000-2009, on how long it took teachers to control unruly children, ranked New Zealand 50th worst of 65 countries.

The breakdown in conduct has led to calls for a rethink. Secondary Principals’ Association president Patrick Walsh said: ‘‘The public and parents are becoming less tolerant with that [restorative justice] approach and want schools to get tough on those serious offenders.’’

But there appears to be little public desire for a return to the strap. PPTA president Robin Duff said corporal punishment supporters had warned of catastrophe when the cane was banned in 1990. That hadn’t happened.

What is needed, however, is the reinforcement of, and in many cases the return of, respect for teachers. That respect needs to come primarily from students, but also their parents – from whom attitudes and behaviour is learned. Mums and dads, after all, should be their children’s very first teachers.