Apocryphal depictions of an unprecedented crisis in young people’s mental ill-health and their general vulnerability have been accompanied by increasingly alarmist claims that only schools can address…
BBC Three’s show ‘Excluded’ follows children at The Bridge AP Academy.
BBC/Keo Films/Oliver Groves
In 2013, 3,900 young people were permanently excluded from secondary schools in England. The most common reason for these children to be removed from the mainstream school system was persistent disruptive…
Conduct problems in childhood are the most common precursor to a variety of disorders affecting mental and physical health in adulthood.
Sergio Vassio Photography/Flickr
Aggression and oppositional behaviour in childhood doesn’t just make short-term problems for children, their friends and families. It also places kids at risk of long-term issues with mental and physical…
What do you presume about me?
Teenagers via auremar/Shutterstock
In 1982 I was toying with the idea of a career in teaching. That year a controversial film, Made in Britain, starring Tim Roth was released and I almost didn’t become a teacher. The film’s central character…
Many children with autism are put on waiting lists and miss out on early behavioural interventions and other benefits because health professionals are reluctant to diagnose autism early out of fear of…
Parents could soon face fines for parking too near to a school, according to a new Manifesto Club report on new Public Spaces Protection Orders. This comes after a record number of 63,837 fines were imposed…
Good anti-bullying strategies can give kids extra muscle.
Child via Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock
Bullying in schools has been recognised as a serious and pervasive problem now for at least two decades. There is now also evidence, including from the UK and other European countries, North America and…
It doesn’t matter how much your parents earn.
Bullying picture via stefanolunardi/Shutterstock
Bullying is the repeated and systematic abuse of power with the aim of causing intentional harm. Examples of bullying have been found in all societies, including among modern hunter-gatherers and in ancient…
Grandpa, I want to touch the Dalek!
Danny Lawson/PA Archive
As the school summer holidays beckon, families will be seeking out places to visit with their children, including museums, art galleries and science centres. It may be a way of keeping older children occupied…
Girls just wanna have a classroom conducive to learning.
Barry Batchelor/PA
Classrooms are highly complex environments. Maintaining a positive classroom environment, especially in classrooms that include potentially disruptive children with emotional or social problems, is very…
Do I really have to take these?
Child with pills. djedzura/Shutterstock
Children are increasingly being given drugs by doctors to help teachers and parents cope with their troublesome behaviour. Certain behaviours or actions by children, such as not sitting still, are being…
Old school isn’t always best.
Zurijeta via Shutterstock
Richard Walden, chairman of the Independent Schools Association, has claimed that state schools fail to provide pupils with a “moral compass” because of a relentless focus on exam results and league tables…
A summer with Mr Drew for all excluded boys?
Channel 4
Mr Drew’s School for Boys, currently showing on Channel Four, illustrates in graphic detail the kinds of behaviour that causes trouble in school. Eleven boys under the age of 12 who have either been excluded…
We are often told that behaviour is not really a problem in the vast majority of English schools. In 2012, the government reported that classroom behaviour was “at least satisfactory” in 99.7% of schools…
Julie with Jack in a film about Applied Behaviour Analysis.
BBC/Dartmouth Films/Two Step Films/Fran Robertson
Treetops School in Essex is a state school that uses ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) to educate children with autism. ABA has generated controversy and BBC4’s film, Autism: Challenging Behaviour, follows…