How bizarre theories about bullies are pushing Scotland's teachers to the brink

Teachers at this school – and many others – comment on the frequency with which they are sworn at or shoved about, the incidence of pupil-on-pupil violence and the way in which groups of pupils roam the corridors when they ought to be in class, using their phones to contact pupils who are actually in class and possibly trying to learn something.

Just to remind you, this is at a school in Kirkintilloch, not a prison in Colombia. Many readers of an older generation will find all this almost impossible to believe, but, while far from universal, this behaviour is becoming more commonplace.

Who is to blame?

Personally, I greeted this quite astonishing news with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was grieved that these professionals were being forced to use the blunt tool of industrial action because they are not allowed to use any tools at all to combat being sworn at or assaulted. On the other hand, I suppose I’m really pleased that, at last, push has come to shove, and my colleagues are shoving back.

So who is to blame for this state of affairs? Well, according to reports, it was suggested to some teachers that children were behaving badly because their lessons were not interesting enough; it is simply amazing that managers in schools can say things like this.

I don’t believe for a second that it is the teachers’ fault – many, many Scottish school teachers currently lead professional lives that are more or less heroic. Is it the fault of bad parenting? That will be a contributory factor in some cases, but all schools everywhere, across the ages, have had kids who have bad parents.

Is it the fault of management, for being soft? No, it is the fault of management for accepting behavioural theories being churned out by individuals who – let’s face it – are a long way away from the daily slog of trying to get 26 recalcitrant young people a pass in National 4 maths. Teaching is a hard job – some find it better to quit that and spend their lives formulating behavioural policies for other teachers to follow.

Meeting ‘challenging’ kids’ needs

Let me give you an actual example of this nonsense. This is from a Twitter post last week: “All behaviour is a form of communication. (Babies are not punished for crying because they are hungry). When a child’s behaviour becomes ‘challenging’, it is likely because we are not meeting their needs. We must look behind the behaviour we see and support the child appropriately.”

Just typing that out made me feel sick. But – at great cost to my stomach, experience and common sense – let us just assume that it’s… true. We should treat a truculent 16-year-old who has just told their pregnant RE teacher to “f*** off” and spat at her, just like we would treat a crying baby. We should meet his needs.

Meeting his needs would not, in my view, involve a ‘restorative conversation’ with the deputy head over a hot chocolate and a Twix (which was exactly the route taken in the actual incident reported above).

Scary, chaotic schools

Meeting his needs would, in my view, involve the following: getting the police in; getting the parents in; suspending the boy from school; consulting with the spat-upon teacher as to whether the boy should ever be allowed to return to that school, and, if he is, sitting him down for the pastoral chat about his needs, while, at the same time, making it clear what will happen if he puts a foot just a tiny inch in the wrong place. Yes, he might benefit from seeing a therapist. That can be part of it too.

Now I’m sorry to the advocates of the ‘trauma-led classroom’ and ‘no-fault bullying’ (yes, that’s a thing – with victims being asked whether they might have provoked big Jimmy into breaking their nose) but I believe that young people need regulation, they need consequences, they need sanctions, they need to know, as my own excellent deputy put it, “where the line in the sand is”.

Of course, it is part of every teacher’s job to care about each pupil, but that kindness needs to be accompanied by authority, otherwise schools become muddled, chaotic and scary places. Remember that we have record levels of school absenteeism in Scotland – how many kids are off school simply because they are scared?

Good luck, Kirkintilloch

Teachers in Kirkintilloch – and at loads of other schools – are simply remembering what they are there for, what education is, and what the ‘needs’ are of all the other young people in their class, the vast majority of whom never cause any trouble and are there to learn. These are the young people that our educational policy-makers forget about, and in so many classrooms on this very day, they will be the victims.

Anyway, good luck, Kirkintilloch: all strength to your elbows! Management there, and in other similar schools beset by terrible behaviour, needs to screw the heid, forget these approaches which aren’t working, support their colleagues and get on with… educating.

Cameron Wyllie is a former head teacher. He writes a blog called A House in Joppa and is the author of a book called Is There A Pigeon in the Room? My Life in Schools