Declining standards of pupil behaviour in UK schools makes good news copy, especially when that behaviour can be used to justify increasing the powers of teachers to discipline pupils. This week, the apparent declining standards of pupil behaviour in schools was in the news following the publication of statistics on Behaviour in Schools, relating to school in England.
There is no doubt that the current Government sees behaviour and discipline in schools as important. Elsewhere on this blog I have discussed the eagerness with which Michael Gove, the current Minister for Education embraces school uniforms as a means of raising standards, including behaviour. Additionally, there are a number of consultation documents on behaviour and discipline available on the Department for Education’s website.
The Guardian reported that Nick Gibb (Schools Minister) was concerned by the statistics, as they revealed that behaviour was judged to be no better than Satisfactory in 20% (one fifth) of schools.
Which means what?
The recently released statistics are based on Ofsted inspections, which, using the familiar Ofsted nomenclature judge behaviour in schools to be either Outstanding, Good, Satisfactory, or Inadequate.
Without knowing the detailed criteria which Ofsted uses to determine their judgement it is not immediately apparent what types of behaviour might constitute Outstanding, as opposed to Good and how they both differ from Satisfactory. It is however, the judgement of Satisfactory which is the most interesting term. It can be stated with reasonable confidence that the term Satisfactory means, well, just that. The implication however from Nick Gibb’s apparent concern over these figures is that Satisfactory actually means something else. Unsatisfactory perhaps?
Ofsted do have another judgement reserved for those schools in which it has judged behaviour to be less than Satisfactory. That judgement is Inadequate. Surely the Minister should be focusing his attention on thee schools, not on those schools where behaviour is considered Satisfactory?
So, how many schools are judged to be Inadequate?
Without wishing to diminish the problems that schools, pupils, teachers, parents, and communities face poor pupil behaviour, the answer is, a relatively small number. The statistics as at December 2010, reveal:
- 25 Primary Schools were given a behaviour grade of Inadequate (0.1% of all English primary schools)
- 32 Secondary Schools were given a behaviour grade of Inadequate (1% of all English secondary schools)
Putting the two figures together, 57 (or 0.28%) schools were judged to have Inadequate levels of behaviour.
What about good behaviour?
The news attention does appear to be on the rather strange concept of ‘no better than’ Satisfactory. However the key points are clearly stated on the first page of the Statistical Release. They reveal that:
- 94% of primary schools were judged to have either Good or Outstanding standards of behaviour
- 82% of secondary schools were judged to have either Good or Outstanding standards of behaviour
Those figures, apparently do not make such a good newspaper headline.
The Department for Education also details the figures by local authority, as well as providing figures for special schools, and pupil referral units.
Education and Society 