'The Disruption Made Teaching Virtually Impossible. I Could Not Believe What I Saw' (UK)

'The disruption made teaching virtually impossible. I could not believe what I saw'

As the petite, middle-aged teacher shouts desperately for the 20th time for the out-of-control class to be quiet, a faint, childish boy's voice can be heard, calling out above the deafening din: "Suck ** ***, miss".

The appalling scene of classroom disorder and disrespect is just one of many captured on film for a channel Five documentary, to be screened this week, which will reignite the debate on how to tackle bad behaviour in schools.

'Sylvia Thomas', a teacher who agreed to film her classes secretly On returning to teaching after a 30-year absence, a supply teacher using the pseudonym Sylvia Thomas secretly filmed shocking examples of lessons ruined by large numbers of pupils over a three-month period.

The documentary shows children aged from 12 to 15 completely ignoring her and other staff while they shout, scream, fight, swear and wander around the classroom at will.

In one scene a full-scale fight breaks out and a 6ft tall boy is seen wielding a rubber truncheon, as the terrified teacher calls for help. In another, pupils throw books, pens and balls of paper across the room for a full 15 minutes as the teacher protests, before they declare that they "don't give a ****". In yet more disturbing scenes, a boy in a computer class is filmed accessing hard-core porn sites and then protesting his innocence, saying "I just typed in '****', miss".

The supply teacher was filming in 15 ordinary secondary schools in London and the north of England - randomly chosen by the supply agencies she contacted, and none of them considered to be failing by recent inspection reports.

Clearly shaken by her experiences, the teacher said she could not comprehend the behaviour she filmed, using a tiny camera hidden in a briefcase and a microphone disguised as a jacket button.

"I could not believe what I saw. I could not describe what I saw," she said. "The disruption that I experienced made teaching virtually impossible. These were schools in middle-class areas, not sink estates. We are not trying to single out the schools in the programme. They could be schools in any part of the country as far as I am concerned, this behaviour is so widespread."

In almost every class, the teacher is seen repeatedly trying to restore order - but her authoritative voice and friendly, no-nonsense approach makes no apparent impact on pupils.

She is ignored or challenged constantly. In one maths class, a 12-year-old who was censured for saying, "Shite, miss!" told her: "I've got just as much right as you to say what I want. I've got a right to speak up for myself."

"It was a constant battle," the teacher said. "Some pupils have got the idea that they can threaten the teacher with the police, with being summoned and sued. Teachers end up walking on eggshells, and when you do that, you can not discipline a child. The balance between the child and the teacher has swung too far in favour of the former - and they know it. The whole way they walk down the corridor says 'We are in control'."

The documentary, Classroom Chaos, to be broadcast on Wednesday, lays bare a growing tide of "low-level disruption" identified earlier this year by school inspectors as a major concern. In his annual report, David Bell, the chief inspector of schools, said that nine per cent of secondaries suffered from "persistent and unsatisfactory" behaviour - up from six per cent in 2000.

Schools staff also report increasing levels of abuse and violence. A recent survey by the Teacher Support Network, a charity that runs a helpline for school staff, found that 98 per cent of respondents had been verbally abused and 45 per cent threatened with violence. One in five had been assaulted and 38 per cent said their personal property had been damaged or defaced.

At its conference last month, the National Union of Teachers, the biggest teacher association, voted for a national charter of behaviour - with sanctions for pupils who breach it - to be drawn up in an attempt to stem the tide.

All three main political parties have pledged to improve school discipline. Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, has promised support for teachers who apply zero tolerance in the classroom.

The Government still insists that schools must take their fair share of disruptive pupils, however. The Conservatives have promised to abolish appeals against pupils exclusions and create "turnaround schools" where poorly behaved pupils can be rehabilitated. Some 21,000 new teachers and smaller classes are pledged by the Liberal Democrats.

According to Ms Thomas, however, the turnaround will not be easy. "I thought maybe their behaviour was because I was bad teacher, or because I was on supply," she said. "But I've shown the video to teacher friends and they say the same things have happened to them." She has now given up teaching for good.

The thing about corporal punishment is that, when truly implemented, the threat is what keeps most kids in check. That is, for every one that actually gets swatted, there are many who stay in line simply to make sure they don't get theirs.

Oh, so true! I grew up in an era where the wooden paddle in the vice principal's ofice was a real threat. But as I recall, we had maybe two or three actual paddlings per year -- a pretty low percentage. Part of the threat of being paddled was the humiliation when you came back to class, since the other kids would cheerfully remind you of the paddling every chance they got for several weeks. (That was the "upside" of peer pressure!)

The solution COULD be very simple - - weed ou the dispurtors (send them home for good) and teach only those children who are civil and wish to learn. Why do I suspect that the education mafia in the UK, like here in the US, would have a problem with that?

I appreciate where you're coming from here (and no, I don't think the US or UK would go for it), but I think it's a better option to restore a teacher's right to administer serious discipline. I believe that would result in far more civil, educated kids than just sending the bad ones home. (Of course, we'll still need to do that too, only hopefully less freuqently.)

"For Poser's sake, I wish more would get a job, rather than waste their time and everyone's money on 'higher education'"

I would like to make a rule that colleges can only accept students who have been out of high school and worked full-time for at least one year.

Of a freshman class of 82 teenagers, I have fewer than 10 who are serious about learning anything. About 60 of the 82 don't ever crack a book outside of class. Most skip at least 15% of classes. They wander into class 30 minutes late, talk continuously and expect make-up exams for no reason.

What is most amazing is that they expect to receive a B or better for that type of effort. Parents regularly show up in the Dean's office with a lawyer when I flunk their kid.

I'm the lucky one. I can throw them out of class when they won't shut up. Public school teachers don't have that luxury.

Far simpler solution: if the pupils misbehave, we should chuck them out. They obviously don't want to learn (not that they would learn much in our crud schools anyway). They can take the economic responsibility which goes along with being kicked out of school: not getting a job. There are more than enough intelligent people finishing school and university who wan't jobs. Why do we bother teaching these idiots who have no hope of holding a job anyway?

Shocking article. I'll definitely tune in to the show when it airs here on Channel Five. I'm betting I won't be surprised, since I left school only a few years ago.

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