NASUWT: Trainee teachers need more than simplistic checklists to manage pupil behaviour
Commenting on the statement from the Department for Education (DfE) regarding support and advice on managing behaviour for trainee teachers, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, said:
“The NASUWT has consistently raised with ministers the concern of newly qualified teachers about the support and advice they receive on behaviour management during their training.
“However, there is much more to promoting good behaviour in schools than issuing a list of what many would regard as patronising truisms about behaviour management which appear to place the entire responsibility for managing pupil behaviour on the individual trainee teacher.
“Evidence makes clear that behaviour in schools is at its best when there are clear behaviour policies in place which are applied consistently by senior managers, and when teachers are supported and managed by those who are in touch with the day to day realities of the classroom.
“It is still too often the case that well trained and well prepared new teachers go to work in schools where behaviour management systems are not fit for purpose.
“It is the responsibility of Government to ensure that behaviour policies and practices in every school work to promote good behaviour and help schools deal with issues of pupil indiscipline effectively.
“A number of recent policy changes by the Coalition Government have removed from schools vital behaviour management support and useful advice.
“What trainee and new teachers require are placements in schools where they can benefit from the support, advice and guidance to which they should be entitled and which enables them to develop their skills. Checklists against which people simply monitor the behaviour of the trainee teacher are no substitute for this.”
ENDS
Lena Davies
Journalist and acting press officer
Campaigns and Communications Team
NASUWT
0121 457 6250 / 07867 392 746
lena.davies@mail.nasuwt.org.uk
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