Britian takes firm steps to discipline school children

Updated on: Monday, September 05, 2011

Schools in Britain are being empowered with an increased authority to ensure a disciplined environment with teachers getting the right to use physical force while dealing with students.

Rules on the use of physical force in schools are to be eased to "restore adult authority" in the classroom.

Teachers will be authorised to read texts on pupils' phones and to erase any offensive messages, photos or videos. They are also expected to be given legal power to use "reasonable force", for example to remove a disruptive pupil from their classroom.

Head teachers will be able to discipline pupils who misbehave outside school and to exclude students who make false allegations against staff.

According to Education Secretary Michael Gove, current regulations inhibited teachers' judgment.

He insisted that more men must be recruited for teaching to provide children with male authority figures.

Gove has already brought-in no-notice detentions, tougher powers to allow teachers to search pupils for banned items, and anonymity for teachers -facing abuse allegations.

The eductation secretary said the government was planning to start a -programme this autumn encouraging former soldiers to take up teaching, specifically to ensure more male role models.

In a speech at Durand Academy, south London, Gove called for radical measures to challenge the culture of low expectations.

He said: They (children) are the lost souls, our school system has failed. It is from that underclass that gangs draw their recruits, young offenders' institutions find their inmates, and prisons replenish their cells.

Gove added: "Let me be crystal clear. If any parent now hears a school say, 'Sorry, we can't physically touch the students', then that school is wrong. Plain wrong. The rules of the game have changed.

Teaching was sometimes undermined by the twisting of rights by a minority who need to be taught an unambiguous lesson in who's boss", he said.

Britian takes firm steps to discipline school children

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