The money could be used to pay for extra classroom staff

Peter Peacock said head teachers at schools across Scotland would benefit from �35m over three years.

A survey, commissioned by the executive, suggested that six out of 10 secondary heads thought discipline was a serious problem in schools.

Mr Peacock said the money would pay for 1,000 more support staff, which in turn would free up teachers to teach.

He believes the plan will reduce disruption for other pupils and allow better learning in classrooms.

Emotional issues

On the issue of whether discipline problems had worsened, Mr Peacock said: "The nature of the problem is changing. Numerically it is difficult to say if has got worse.

"Society is changing - there is less automatic respect from young people in society, more emotional problems, more mental health problems and more disobedience."

Councils will be able to use the cash to pay for extra support, including:

• Pupil support base staff who can devise programmes to change the behaviour of the most disruptive pupils

• Learning support assistants who support classroom teachers and may also provide support for individual pupils

• Classroom assistants who provide general help for classroom teachers.

Mr Peacock said: "The extra staff I am funding will free teachers to teach the new curriculum, help all pupils to learn undisturbed and deal intensively with those pupils who need it most.

Education Minister Peter Peacock says society is changing

"Step by step, over the last five years, we have been putting in place the methods and resources to allow parents to send their children to schools where the conditions for learning are improving."

The cash boost was welcomed by the Confederation of Local Authorities in Scotland.

Cosla education spokesperson Rev Ewan Aitken said: "It will allow councils to invest in additional support staff for teachers and therefore allow them to focus even more on teaching children."

He said the money came after "hard negotiations" with the executive.

Mr Aitken added: "We welcome this positive response from the minister and the support it will provide teachers in allowing them to do their jobs.

"Another major win is that this funding comes with the flexibility that allows councils and schools to deliver on the inclusion agenda - a major commitment and aim of councils."

But opposition parties were more sceptical about the announcement.

'Bad situation'

The Tories claimed their own plans for a summit meeting on discipline had forced the executive to "wake up" to the problem.

James Douglas-Hamilton said: "Support staff do a wonderful job in helping teachers who are desperately over-stretched by disruptive pupils and excessive bureaucracy, but the answer is not just to increase support staff, but to give powers to schools to remove disruptive pupils."

The SNP urged the executive to tackle classroom indiscipline "at source" by increasing the number of teachers and cutting class sizes.

Fiona Hyslop said: "Today's proposal to increase the number of support staff is all about better management of a bad situation.