Fighting, swearing, bullying and disruption must be tackled, teachers say

The National Union of Teachers wants the government and local councils in England and Wales to adopt its charter on pupil behaviour.

It is calling for legislation to clarify teachers' rights when dealing with classroom disruption because of fears they could be prosecuted.

And it wants persistent disruption to be added to grounds for expulsion.

The NUT's charter sets out the rights and responsibilities of teachers, parents, pupils and school governors for ensuring that bad behaviour is eliminated.

It calls for all schools to have clear discipline codes developed with the support of teachers and pupils and backed by the parents.

Damaging behaviour

The union's general secretary Steve Sinnott said: "Teachers have a deep commitment to the education of their pupils. They believe that no child should ever be written off.

"That is why support is needed to overcome the damaging behaviour of the few for their own sake and for the sake of every other child in the school.

"Currently, it is apparent that an environment exists in which some pupils believe it is acceptable to employ disruptive, abusive and, very occasionally, violent behaviour towards teachers."

Other measures being recommended include compelling local authorities to provide schools with support on behaviour and to provide special units for pupils.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: "Ofsted tells us that behaviour is good in most schools most of the time, and we have made tackling poor behaviour a major priority through our zero tolerance approach.

"We have commissioned an expert group of heads, including representatives nominated by the NUT, to report to us next month with their views on what more can be done to ensure good discipline in schools."

Shadow Schools Minister Mark Hoban backed the principle of a behaviour charter - and called for greater autonomy for heads and teachers over how they can exclude badly-behaved pupils.

"The NUT is right to identify that head teachers should have a clear policy on school discipline, and they are also right to be critical of independent appeals panels," said Mr Hoban.