Government make it harder to maintain class discipline

New figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Shadow Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, reveal that record numbers of pupils are being suspended from school more than ten times in a single year. The figures from 125 out of 150 local authorities for 2007/8 show that at least 867 children were repeatedly suspended, as teachers battle against Government rules discouraging them from expelling violent and disruptive pupils.

The number of children repeatedly suspended from school has trebled in four years. In 2003/4, 310 children were suspended more than ten times. Extrapolating the 2007/8 data suggests almost one thousand children were repeatedly suspended just four years later.

Nick Gibb MP said “The huge increase in children being repeatedly suspended from school is a direct result of the Government making it harder for teachers to expel violent and disruptive pupils. Teachers want these pupils out of their classroom so other children can learn, but the Government’s restrictions on expulsion have caused this phenomenon of endless suspension.”

Cllr Andy Morgan, Parliamentary Candidate for Bolton South East, added “Suspending a child from school over and over again does them no good at all and distracts teachers from doing the job they have been employed to do because of the breakdown in class discipline. If a child has been seriously disruptive or violent they should be properly removed for their benifit so they can get the specialist help they need.  This would also allow our teachers to concentrate on the well behaved majority who suffer from this sort of disruption to receive their education in peace.”

"The days of appeals panels overturning headteachers decisions to suspend and exclude pupils needs to stop.  This undermines the headteachers and is detrimental to teaching in our schools.  This, along with the governments new rules forcing good schools to take expelled pupils is nonsense and should be scrapped.''