Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 October 2004
» ...
»
School Discipline.
166 Ms B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Education and Science her views on a recent survey from TUI which outlined the growing problems of intimidation of teachers by pupils, lewd and vulgar language, aggressive behaviour and defiance in the classroom; if her attention has been drawn to the significant problems this behaviour is creating for teachers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26107/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am aware of the survey conducted by the TUI and referred to by the Deputy.
It is important that while acknowledging that student discipline is an issue in schools we do not talk this up to being a crisis. It is undoubtedly the case that a small proportion of students cause serious problems in schools. The reasons for this are not simple and are societal as much as educational. That said, I do not believe that today's generation of young people is more disruptive than their predecessors. The reality of the situation is that as we have progressively increased the retention rate in our formal education system we are retaining students who in the past would have dropped out of school early. This poses challenges for schools and for society.
A school's code of discipline and the inclusive way in which it is framed is important, particularly in harnessing student and parental support. We also have to consider whether the formal school model best meets the needs of all students and whether other models need to be developed. As against this we have to be careful not to promote the exclusion of problem students as this will leave us with a greater problem down the road.
It is particularly important that we identify models of best practice in the area of student behaviour. In other words, we need to see what works well and by the same token what does not.
It is my intention to give this issue a particular focus and I will make some further announcements in the near future.
