I read a copy of this report, whose title I can't remember or find now on Google, about a year or more ago. The report was commissioned in response to teachers' complaints about growing student indiscipline and classroom disruptions primarily in secondary schools.
A major flaw in the report was that it presented no clear solution to dealing with students who disrupt classes and refuse to obey teachers. If I remember correctly, there was a proposal for large scale recruitment of psychological counsellors but this is completely impractical in the underfunded education system.
One successful solution that was implemented in a very socially disadvanted school in the UK should be adopted. Immediately a student disrupts a class,he or she is taken out and placed in a special room to speak with local people. These locals are recruited,on modest pay or as volunteers, for their characteristics as sympathetic mother or father figures. They chat to the students about their problems,which often include drug addicted parents,and usually succeed in calming them down. If students persist in misbehaving,they are left alone in a room on hard chairs with some study work.
Because students know that any attempt to disrupt a class will be nipped in the bud,the amount of disruption has declined dramatically.
At present, teachers in Ireland lack the authority to order disruptive students from their classes, a recipe for chaos. If students don't want to behave,then they should walk the streets close by the school for a while until they feel like behaving. Most students want to be in school,if only for social company.
One possible reason teachers aren't allowed order students from the class: in England,students absent from school tend to become involved in petty crime. However,if the ban was from just one class,as opposed to a whole day's absence,maybe the crime risk would be low.



LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote