uk: Nursery schools struggle with troubled and violent children: poor parenting

November 6, 2008

Nursery schools struggle with troubled and violent children

andra Frean, Education Editor

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5102689.ece

There were more than 4,000 suspensions of children aged 5 and under in

England last year, prompting calls for teachers to have greater powers

of restraint over violent and disruptive pupils.

Of the 400 suspensions of children aged 2 and 3 from nursery last year,

310 involved accusations of physical assault or threatening behaviour

against a child or an adult, government figures show. They highlight the

difficulties that some schools have in controlling troubled children

who, in their distress or anger, may throw chairs or bite, hit and shout

abuse at teachers and classmates.

Teachers were given stronger powers to restrain pupils in 2006. The

rules enable them to use reasonable force to remove disruptive children

from class or prevent them from leaving a room. They can also forcibly

search children they believe are carrying dangerous objects. But many

are still afraid to use force for fear of being accused of assault

themselves.

Gove, the Shadow Education Secretary, who obtained the figures

in a parliamentary answer, was staggered by the number of suspensions

given to very young children. " Ministers have eroded teachers' ability

to keep order by restricting their powers to deal with disruptive and

violent children. We want to restore the authority of teachers to ensure

a safe and secure environment for children of all ages to learn in. "

According to the figures, there were 3,750 suspensions of children aged

4 and 5 last year. The total number of suspensions of those aged 2 to 11

exceeded 45,500, up from 40,000 the year before. Most cases involved

violence or the threat of it. The figures for individual age groups peak

at 10,600 for nine-year-olds.

Teachers can physically restrain a child only if the action " constitutes

a proportionate punishment in the circumstances of the case " . A

Conservative government would remove the word proportionate. A party

spokesman said: " This word is a goldmine for lawyers and a nightmare for

the public because it gives lawyers the chance to take any case to court

and quibble over the precise boundary of what may be proportional. "

A Tory government, he said, would issue guidance making it clear to the

police and courts that teachers should be punished for physically

restraining a child only if it was clear that they had acted

unreasonably. Schools would no longer have to keep written records for

ten years for every episode involving physical restraint, as this

created a disincentive for teachers to keep order.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said

that the Government had already given teachers stronger powers to use

physical restraint against pupils. The high numbers of very young

children being suspended was evidence that teachers were clamping down

and taking a hard line against physically disruptive pupils. He said

that the figures for suspensions were up last year because more schools

were using them over temporary exclusions.

Mick s, general secretary of the National Association of Head

Teachers, said that many teachers did not have the confidence to use the

powers. " The moment a hand is laid on a child, whistles are blown and

social services become involved. Unless the teacher can show they have

been trained in the use of physical restraint, they can find themselves

walking a tightrope, " he said, adding that sometimes there was no other

option but to use physical force.

He argued that suspension could sometimes be counterproductive. " Where a

child is displaying poor behaviour because there are problems in the

home, simply sending them back home is not always a terribly good idea. "

The solution was better cooperation between schools and social care and

health agencies as soon as problem behaviour was identified. Mr s

said that violent or disruptive behaviour in a very young child might be

because of undiagnosed autism. In such cases specialist support, not

punishment, was needed.

Primary and nursery schools were seeing an increasing number of parents

who had simply lost control of their children. He said: " Some of these

children seem never to have heard the word no. It's down to poor

parenting. "

..

November 6, 2008

This is a very disturbing article which unfortunately rings very true. School

officials often treat our children as criminals instead of children with

disabilities. The use of restraint, including prone restraint (deaths have

resulted from this type of restraint)and seclusion rooms are common daily

occurences in many schools. I was shocked to learn that absolutely no law

exists in my state to protect a disabled child against these often life

threatening restraints. To add insult to injury, there is no parental notice if

restraint is used on a child in most states. So my child, who cannot speak can

be restrained at school and I may never know. Google retraint seclusion /

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