The statistics that she received from 32 police forces make grim reading. The horrific murder of Anne Maguire does not appear to be so out of the ordinary as might be expected; in fact, it is a wonder that there have not been even more deaths of teachers, teaching assistants and pupils. As the BBC say:
"A total of 30,394 crimes were reported place at primary schools, secondary schools and further education establishments - excluding universities - in 2014, according to the data of 32 forces. In 2013, there were 28,444 crime reports.
Theft, burglary or robbery was the most common offence, with 13,003 incidents reported. There were 9,319 reports of violent crime, 4,106 reports of criminal damage or arson, and 754 reported drugs offences."
So, although no-one is claiming that UK schools are danger zones, there is an increase of criminal behaviour that should be of deep concern to all of us. And, please remember, not all police forces revealed school crime statistics to the programme, which means that the true figure of school crime will be considerably higher.
Yet even these statistics are inadequate - as a retired teacher with more than 30 years experience, I can attest that there will be many more crimes committed in schools which never get reported as such. This happens for two reasons: firstly, the naïve and sentimental belief in childhood innocence that persists, despite the Mary Bell, James Bulger and Anne Maguire murders. Secondly, the fact that some Heads (not all) are reluctant to take appropriate action against violent and disruptive pupils because they believe it reflects badly on the school (and on them!). OFSTED, of which I have written many times before, takes a dim view of pupil exclusions for the same reasons.
Can I prove this? Well, yes, I can, but, as I do not have Parliamentary Privilege like Tom Watson and other MPs, I must be circumspect in my revelations. Nevertheless, I know of many examples of Head teacher inaction, of which I offer a few here, taken from several decades:
1. In the 1970s, I knew of a London teacher who was attacked in the street by an irate parent, following a playground incident in school. The Head of the school threatened to give the teacher poor references if she prosecuted the parent, as it would besmirch the good name of the school.
2. In the 1980s, I knew of an incident at a primary school where a secondary school boy, the son of a parent governor at the same primary school, walked into a Year 6 class, attacked a pupil, then calmly walked out. Again, the Head took no action. The police were not informed, despite this clearly being a criminal assault.
3. In the "noughties", I was told of a very small minority of pupils at one school who repeatedly abused, threatened and, occasionally, struck teachers and teaching assistants (other pupils suffered far worse). The Head took no decisive action against them because the school was in Special Measures, and any permanent exclusions (i.e. expulsions) would hinder the school's getting out of said Measures. Yet again, the school's reputation was regarded as being of more importance than the welfare of pupils and staff. In fact, the Head, on one occasion, refused to take action against a violent parent who had damaged school property because of the risk of adverse personal publicity.
I am well aware that other teachers, reading this, will know of far worse incidents, but I wanted to illustrate how Head teacher indifference/callousness/cowardice, call it what you will, has been a common factor in school crime for a great number of years. An extreme example of this can be found on the BBC page above, in the harrowing case of the ex-teacher Ian Corcoran, who was repeatedly and viciously attacked by a violent pupil over a lengthy period - again, no action was taken in his school by the powers-that-be to deal with this pupil.
I believe that if we are to tackle this problem, the attitude of the educational establishment must change drastically. In the USA, when a school gets into difficulties, the troubleshooting school principals always expel troublemakers, sometimes in scores - and are applauded for it. Zero tolerance, I am convinced, is the only way to deal with growing crime in UK schools. This is especially the case in primary schools, where troublesome pupils are treated with kid gloves in a number of ways. These children then go on to secondary school, where they are treated very differently. I know of many cases where such pupils continue with their antics when they arrive at secondary school, only to be summarily excluded.
It hardly needs to be said that facing violence, with no support from gutless Heads, is one reason for teachers leaving the profession. There are many others, as Michael Rosen has set out on his blog. To save clicking on a link, I provide them here (Thanks, Michael):
Tips for govt: how to guarantee teacher shortage
On the Guardian thread about teacher shortages and how they could possibly have come about, I posted some government policies to keep teaching recruitment and retention down:
1. Encourage the press to run stories saying that teachers are lazy and that there are thousands of bad ones.
2. Get the head of Ofsted to say the same.
3. Keep this up for decades. (both main parties)
4. Bring in hundreds of measuring and assessment systems, levels, targets, tests, exams, which then breed more 'rehearsal' tests and exams.
5. Bring in a punitive, rapid, unsupportive inspection system which ignores the fact that scores are attached to children so that if you're in a school where there has been turnover the inspectorate say that has nothing to do with us.
6. Run a new kind of school where the salaries of management are not open to public scrutiny.
7. Allow interest groups to open schools which take on proportionally fewer SEN, EAL and FSM pupils than nearby LA schools.
8 Allow covert selection and exclusion process to take place around these new kinds of schools because the LA schools have to pick up the pieces.
9. Use international data as if it is holy writ and ignore evidence that suggests that comparing countries does not compare like with like, that some countries which are 'top' are selecting. Obscure the differences between the countries by only talking about 'places' in the table, without ever making clear whether these differences are 'significant' or not.
10. Use China as an example of utopia in education without making a comparison between the two societies - as if education exists separately from the societies that produce the respective education systems.
11. Make sure that very nearly all the people running the state education system from government have no, or very little, state education experience themselves."
That is very well said, but it omits the risk of day-to-day indiscipline and, as seen above, violence. Now, we may wonder why the government are not acting to deal with this worsening situation. Just how much worse can be found in a Guardian article of March 31:
"Almost four out of 10 teachers quit within a year of qualifying, with 11,000 leaving the profession before they have really begun their career and record numbers of those who remain giving up mid-career, according to analysis of government figures.
The exodus of new recruits has almost tripled in six years, resulting in a crisis in teacher supply in a profession that has become “incompatible with normal life”, according to Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers."
Unfortunately for teachers, this Tory government has one powerful factor working in its favour: The Recession. As job opportunities are restricted for graduates, many train as teachers. There are so many that it matters not how many teachers leave the profession, there is a ready supply of newly qualified teachers to replace them. Roll on the end of the recession?
The exodus of new recruits has almost tripled in six years, resulting in a crisis in teacher supply in a profession that has become “incompatible with normal life”, according to Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers."
Unfortunately for teachers, this Tory government has one powerful factor working in its favour: The Recession. As job opportunities are restricted for graduates, many train as teachers. There are so many that it matters not how many teachers leave the profession, there is a ready supply of newly qualified teachers to replace them. Roll on the end of the recession?
Interesting post
ReplyDeleteIn relation to your final point, I read in the press recently that more teachers are leaving the profession, many going abroad, than are being trained, so not even the recession will save the crisis that is going to hit our schools at some point. Many of these teachers are young and early in their careers, which means we aren't getting value for the cost of training them. It also means we are losing the replacements for those who retire, this creating a double whammy for staffing.
ReplyDeleteAs for violence in the workplace, I worked for the DHSS/DSS, now DWP, for 28 years. While most members of the public were fine, a tiny minority would behave disgracefully, screaming and shouting if they didn't get their own way, threatening staff, disrupting the public waiting room and alarming other claimants. After one particularly bad incident, I asked the receptionists why they didn't call the police. They told me that management didn't give permission. I replied that as as citizens of this country, they didn't need permission, especially if they thought harm could come to people (staff or other claimants) or damage to property.
As for internal reporting procedures, they said that they didn't have time to fill in the forms, and that they didn't have faith that anything would be done. Also if they made too many reports about potentially violent claimants, they worried that their own competence may be questioned. Management didn't like the police being called because it reflected badly on the office.
My ex-girlfriend used to work in the NHS. If anything, the situation in our hospitals is worse than in schools or the DWP. Perhaps assaults on public sector workers who are simply doing a job should be a special offence, with immunity from repercussions by employers if a staff member decides to follow things up, including calling the police. Employers should be required to encourage staff to report incidents (internally, and to the police when appropriate), with any attempts to suppress such reporting punishable by disciplinary penalties for any managers or employers who tried it. It would be a significant change in culture, but it would put the control in the hands of those who need it - on the front line - and away from heads or managers sitting safe in their offices.
You are right on all points, Nev. The Daily Mirror says that 18 000 teachers left to teach in English International schools, while 17 000 qualified as teachers through the universities. Last year, on 7th may, I looked at violence in the public sector, and it seems to be getting worse. Civil Service management and many Headteachers seem to share a common concern for the reputation of their office or school - and doubtless their own reputations as well - together with a minimal concern for the staff in their care. And yes, action to change this is needed.
ReplyDelete