Europe UK (Commonwealth Union) – A new study has pointed out that school leaders across England feel pressured to carry on utilizing a system of shooting up punitive moves to handle student behavior, in spite of their knowledge that it fails certain pupils.
The results were revealed in a qualitative study that looked into the reason more school leaders were not evaluating alternative methods to behavior management. It was argued that resource restrictions along with other concerns keep teachers feeling trapped in the existing system of mounting punishments. In this system, over a thousand students are excluded, and roughly 150,000 are suspended each year.
Educators who were interviewed for a study acknowledged that there are potential benefits to alternative methods of student discipline, but they felt that they had little choice but to follow the established approach. The most common reasons for this were cost, resources together with time constraints and parental perception.
In England, the majority of schools adhere to a disciplinary approach rooted in behaviorism, which focuses on promoting positive behavior and employing graduated consequences for repeated misconduct. At the outset, students are typically given a verbal warning in response to inappropriate behavior, and if the behavior persists, they may be subject to intermediate disciplinary measures such as detention. For those who continue to exhibit misconduct, the suspension becomes a possibility, and in severe cases, exclusion from mainstream education may be the ultimate consequence.
This approach seems to be effective with many students, but there are concerns that it is still failing a significant minority. Government data have continuously demonstrated that persistent, disruptive behavior is the main factor for suspensions or exclusions from school. The latest available figures suggest that about 1,500 students are excluded, and 148,000 suspended, each year for this reason.
Researchers indicated that were not calling for a scrapping of the existing system, but a reassessment to enhance the system.
