School Discipline
I brought up this issue with the Education Minister Jane Davidson yesterday - it was one of a number of matters I discussed with Secondary School Heads in the Rhondda last week.
Jane Davidson: I do not say that discipline is not a problem in schools. I have engaged with the unions over a number of years, looking at ways to enhance our guidance in terms of support for teachers. The practitioners’ group, which wrote the ‘Learning Behaviour’ report, has asked for further power to clarify the arrangement in one legal requirement, in terms of teachers’ powers. So, it is an issue that we have already indicated that we are happy to look at.
However, I would point out that, when the chief inspector came to committee, for example, she did not say that issues around discipline were a major problem in Welsh schools, which is why I say that we have to look at evidence. Schools already have a substantial number of powers to ensure that, if a child is affecting other children’s learning, he or she can be removed as appropriate from the classroom, and that is reflected in the figures that you have just announced.
Jane Davidson: There are some key issues around the anonymity of professionals who are accused, who work with children. We have been looking closely at that issue with our colleagues in Westminster.