Secondary teachers have warned of a growing crisis in school dis-cipline because of laws they claim protect unruly pupils.
In a submission yesterday to the Government's new taskforce on discipline, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (Asti) said parents often challenge disciplinary sanctions imposed by schools, making it more difficult to tackle disruptive behaviour.
The Asti said many teachers believe school boards of managements fail to appreciate the gravity of the discipline breakdown. But it warned that "challenging behaviour, such as aggressive behaviour towards teachers and other students, including sexual harassment and bullying, can seriously damage the climate in the school".
Asti also complained that the appeals procedures, which allows unruly pupils to challenge a suspension or an expulsion, regularly has no input from a teacher or school principal.
Asti said current legislation focuses largely on the needs of students as individuals and not on students as members of a learning community.
"The Asti believes that the legislation, by according wide-ranging entitlements to individuals, undermines the collective entitlement of the student community to a safe, orderly and har-monious learning environment. The Asti recommends that the legislation be reviewed to promote such a balance and to acknowledge, in law, the collective rights of the student community to an education in school which is not persistently disrupted by a small minority."
Asti also gave the taskforce details of its own research on discipline. This found:
71 per cent of teachers had taught classes in the current school year in which some students engaged in continuous disruptive behaviour;
81 per cent of teachers said that a small group of students were responsible for disruption in their classrooms;
55 per cent of teachers said that one student was primarily responsible for disruption.
The Asti warned that the breakdown in discipline in some schools is undermining the quality of teaching and learning.
It also told the taskforce that stress levels in the profession were also increasing because of the breakdown in discipline.
The Asti wants a national strategy on discipline that will ensure school codes of discipline are enforced. This, it says, should be implemented in co-operation with the education partners.
However, it said this will only work if the strategy has the support of the key education partners, ie teachers, parents and school management authorities.
According to the Asti, "teachers widely felt that boards of management did not appreciate the negative impact of student indiscipline on the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms or its negative impact on teachers' welfare".
