Teach Secondary Issue 14.7

If the profession wants to boost those teacher retention numbers, it needs to ditch the cynicism and take some concerted steps towards curbing the worst student behaviour, says John Lawson Given that this an era that’s seen the adoption of ‘chainsaw politics’ and the attempted axing of an entire federal education department in America, might I suggest adopting a radical new approach to addressing England’s ‘teacher retention’ crisis? There’s always been a vast epistemological disconnect between educators and the bureaucrats running the education system in this country. The latter rarely understand how poor behaviour drives away even excellent teachers. Working so far from the frontline makes it difficult for them to comprehend those long, demoralising days of being ceaselessly abused by unruly teenagers. Abuse that can, and must stop. So, here’s a plan. Scale down the DfE for a month, and dispatch its staff into a series of challenging schools to work as temporary supply teachers. It doesn’t matter that the majority won’t be skilled teachers, since most management strategies will often prove ineffective when faced with wilful and aggressive teenagers. Because only then will that crucial ‘ Ah, now I understand ’ epiphany occur. Behaviour must become a key priority, because it’s a key reason for why capable teachers are quitting. The presence of three ‘unteachables’ in any given lesson will quickly disrupt learning, and duly shred the morale of exhausted teachers. Paper planes and‘porn artists’ Upon returning to England fromFlorida in 2019 to care for my elderly mum, I began supply teaching inWest Sussex. I love teaching, and wanted to continue, but was saddened to realise that even a dedicated ‘A’ grade teacher with years of outstanding success behind them often couldn’t prevent unacceptable behaviour. I remember distributing worksheets on Guru Nanak to a Y9 RE class, who promptly turned them into paper planes barely 10 minutes into the lesson. (The worksheets were a necessity, due to the textbooks having previously been defaced by ‘porn artists’ wielding crayons). I was then subjected to a sexually explicit dance routine by three girls, who cranked up a speaker and provocatively exposed themselves before a braying audience of boys. It took 10 minutes to remove them frommy class with the assistance of two world- weary teachers. ‘We’ve given up’ Most of the words directed at me were expletives, insults, threats and insinuations – ‘ What’s your handle on Grindr, Sir ?’ Six boys set up a card game and ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Lawson is a former secondary teacher, now serving as a foundation governor while running a tutoring service, and author of the book The Successful (Less Stressful) Student (Outskirts Press, £11.95); find out more at prep4successnow.wordpress.com or follow @johninpompano THE LAST WORD told me to ‘ f*** off, paedo ’ when I asked them to desist. Bathroom passes weren’t requested; the children simply headed for the conveniences at their convenience. Not one child was on a behaviour plan. A few compliant students assured me that this was a typical day. “ Nothing ever gets done, Sir – we’ve given up. ” Are you outraged? I hope so. In the 60s and 70s, this kind of behaviour at my grammar school would have prompted mass floggings, expulsions and days of whole school sackcloth and ashes penitence. (Though to be clear, the only aspects of that response I’d support would be student penitence and teachers’ outrage at such abysmal behaviour). Why are schools still accepting this as ‘acceptable’? Because it’s not. Nor is it acceptable for a deputy head, when I voiced my concerns to them, to respond with, “ Welcome to my world ”. After witnessing how such cynicismhad become seemingly ubiquitous, I quit teaching myself and took up journalism. Oh, and while my pique is peaking, let’s stop blaming COVID-19 lockdowns or social media for this kind of thing. Disgraceful behaviour is, after all, a hardy perennial. An urgent reality check It might be extremely difficult to achieve perfection with behaviour, but we must keep improving. Inmy experience, one practical strategy that consistently works is for students who exhibit disruptive behaviour to be placed on simple report cards that are signed after each lesson by their teachers. These cards grade their behaviour from 1 to 5, with 1 being exemplary and 5 unacceptable. No time-consuming explanations are required. If students get 1s and 2s all week, it shows that they can behave, and will therefore come off report. Teachers and parents know they’re not being affected by severe mental health issues, since these aren’t conditions that are easily switched on and off. Many thousands of teens persist in being disruptive and just plain naughty because it’s gratifying , and because at the end of the day, nobody stops them . Those who cannot behave, on the other hand, will be unable to remain inmainstream classrooms, thus warranting a compassionate, respectful and caring Plan B within the school. Most teens are teachable. Those who aren’t will need both skilful support and an urgent reality check – before they become troubled adults who will rarely experience the kind of happiness everyone deserves. “Nothing ever gets done, Sir...” 82 teachwire.net/secondary