Teachers say aggressive pupils make them quit the classroom

Schools will have to tackle a culture of "yobbishness" if teachers are to be kept in the profession, says the School Standards Minister, David Miliband.

Addressing a conference about the retention of teaching staff, Mr Miliband said some "simple truths" about pupil behaviour needed to be asserted.

"No parent has the right to abuse a teacher or any other member of the school team ... and no teacher or support staff should ever be told that respect is old-fashioned or authority out of date," said Mr Miliband.

"Yet a minority of students and parents continue to flout these values - with the consequences that the harmony and ethos of schools are damaged, staff demotivated, and in extreme cases both students and staff are made to feel unsafe.

No teacher or support staff should ever be told that respect is old-fashioned or authority out of date David Miliband, School Standards Minister

"There is a yobbish culture that says that it's OK to mouth off. Wrong. It is never OK," said the minister.

Mr Miliband was talking at a conference organised by the General Teaching Council for England, which was examining the problem of teachers retiring early or changing careers.

As well as difficulties in recruiting students to become teachers, there have also been concerns at the number of teachers leaving the profession, particularly younger, recently-qualified teachers.

Anti-social

Unruly behaviour by pupils has been cited as an important reason why teachers have decided to leave.

A survey earlier this year claimed that a third of teachers planned to quit the classroom in the next five years - with many blaming aggressive pupils and parents.

Mr Miliband emphasised the need to instil "the value of respect for teacher authority".

"If we fail to confront abuse of teachers, then we allow children to believe that violence goes unchecked and that abuse is an accepted response to authority. Dealing with abuse sets the right example."

The minister pointed to two areas in which schools would be supported in tackling poor behaviour.

"The Anti-Social Behaviour Bill will enable local education authorities to pursue parenting contracts and orders for poor student behaviour and ill-discipline," said Mr Miliband.

And he said that such powers would have to be put into practice. "There will be no point in having them if they are not used - because the bark must not be worse than the bite," he said.

Where parents had assaulted or threatened teachers, he said that the "Safe School Legal Toolkit" would help schools to make sure that miscreants were punished.

The minister's comments were welcomed by teachers' union leader, Eamonn O'Kane, who said that classroom staff faced "totally unacceptable levels of verbal abuse".

"The issue of pupil behaviour is quoted by teachers as one of their main reasons for leaving the profession prematurely," said Mr O'Kane, general secretary of the National Association of School Masters Union of Women Teachers.

"Tackling robustly instances of pupil misbehaviour, such as verbal abuse, is essential if we are to retain experienced teachers.

"Therefore, I support wholly the minister's call for local education authorities to use the new powers which will be given to them under the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill to pursue those who persistently challenge teacher authority in upholding the value of orderly behaviour."