Hard lessons in the real problems of dealing with Britain’s unruliest pupils

With just one week left of term, Jamie’s Dream School should have moved through its difficult first period and be showing signs of improvement. It’s not.

Having taken on the Government and some equally formidable dinner ladies to highlight the problems of school meals, Oliver must have thought getting a group of disaffected kids interested in education would be a walk in the park. He wanted to inspire them with the likes of poet Andrew Motion and historian David Starkey in place of regular teachers, but it’s week six now and stools are still being thrown and most of the group are still more interested in their mobiles than any certificate. One went so far as to stage a two-and-a-half-hour sit-in in her mother’s car until she cracked and agreed to take her home. It’s little wonder Alastair Campbell is wondering whether his planned class trip to Downing Street is such a good idea.

No doubt when the final episodes goes out next week, the series will manage to manufactured a suitably happy ending for at least some of the pupils as they walk off into the sunset armed with the portfolios most haven’t yet even bothered to write their names on, but it’s hardly been a runaway success.

If anything, it’s been proof of what many teachers have been saying for years – some students are beyond teaching and their presence in the classroom makes everyone’s life a misery.

While Oliver’s dream turned into a nightmare, he and the rest of the celebrity staff room can walk away, back to the cosiness of their proper jobs. Staff at Darwen Vale School, near Blackburn, have no such get-out clause.

Yesterday, they formed a picket line outside the school gates in protest over indiscipline and a lack of management support in dealing with the most troublesome pupils.

The catalogue of incidents, which includes intimidation and threats of violence, dates back some months. As the placards and banners were unfurled, the local authority continued to insist there was no “serious indiscipline problem”, but teachers across the country know exactly how they feel.

“We know that there are some children who will leave school this summer who are unemployable,” says Teresa Bliss, who spent 21 years as a teacher before training as an educational psychologist.

“In school bad behaviour is managed, side-lined or in some cases tolerated. In the outside world it isn’t and when they can’t hold down a job or don’t have the necessary qualifications to even get paid employment, the results can be disastrous. The problems start from the earliest age. There are some families where children are parked in front of the television and their parents never once discuss what they are watching.

“When they arrive at school their language and communication skills are already lagging way behind what they should be and often the situation can spiral out of control.

“When they are given even basic instructions they have no idea how to respond. As their classmates progress, frustration sets in and that can lead to them lashing out. It’s a reaction they may well have learnt from their parents and getting themselves excluded from class is often the easy route out. It means they don’t have to lose face by admitting they can’t read or don’t understand.

“They might lose their chance of education, but they keep their street cred. In every case I see, the first thing I ask is, ‘What is their level of literacy?’”

Towards the end of last year, figures showed violence and aggression against staff in Doncaster’s schools had rocketed by 80 per cent in just a few months.

According to Doncaster Council there had been 136 incidents in the first six months of the year, compared to 75 in the whole of 2009-10.

The rise was said in part to be due to a new system of reporting incidents and seemed to be backed up by research.

A further study by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers found four in 10 of its members had encountered physical aggression in the classroom, with more than a quarter claiming the violence had been specifically directed towards them.

“In the past year I have dealt with incidents of smoking, drug abuse and assault,” says one state school headteacher.

“I have seen pupils ‘losing it’, becoming out of control and responsible for repeated verbal abuse to staff and management.

“It often leaves teachers in an impossible situation, where the one thing they want to do, they can’t and that’s actually teach.”

Earlier this week, Education Secretary Michael Gove issued new guidance to schools saying in extreme circumstances head teachers could press criminal charges against pupils who make malicious allegations against teachers.

It’s the latest in a long list of policy suggestions, from requiring parents to sign up to behaviour contracts, known as Home School Agreements, to getting ex-military personnel into the classroooms. However, if successive governments have shown teachers one thing, it’s that most big ideas have very little impact.

Teresa Bliss says: “Every new government has their own pet projects and it is little wonder that teachers find themselves stressed out. I was presented with a Home School Agreement and I point- blank refused to sign it. My three children don’t have any behavioural problems and I suspect those that do won’t improve because their parents have signed a piece of paper.

“It wasn’t just a sledge hammer to crack a nut, it was a complete waste of everyone’s time. I know there are some people who think teachers have an easy time of it, blessed by long school holidays.

“But any teacher worth their salt has to work through those holidays just meet the endless vacuous strategies which are imposed on them. You wouldn’t run a business like that and it’s no way to run a school.”

The picture painted by many of those involved in education seems bleak, but Teresa and others like her believe it needn’t be.

“I’m not saying the solutions are easy, but if we don’t do something we will all suffer the consequences,” she says. “Punishment doesn’t work, if it did our prisons would be empty. One thing that I know does work is restorative justice, where badly- behaved pupils sit down with the person affected, whether that be the teacher or another classmate and talk about what happened and the impact it has had.

“I tried it with two of my own children when they were fighting with each other as teenagers and it marked a key turning point in their relationship. It’s not a cure- all, but its effectiveness is proven.

“The other thing we must do is step out of the culture of league tables. Schools are encouraged to be inclusive, yet at the same time are penalised if they don’t score high on the league tables.

“It’s a system which doesn’t allow schools to function as they should and does a great disservice to children who more than anything need help. A high proportion of NEETS (Not in Employment, Education or Training ) will go onto commit crime, they become dependent on benefits and research shows they also risk dying prematurely. This is not something we should allow to be swept under the carpet.”

Towards the end of this week’s instalment of Jamie’s Dream School, Oliver made an impassioned speech begging the teenagers, who he admitted were “drinking in the last chance saloon” not to waste the opportunity. Eyes welled up and most nodded intently. Seconds later as they filed out, one of the girls turned to the camera.

“It was nice of him to give that speech,” she said. “But it won’t matter, it’s gone in one ear and out the other.”

Sadly, it was one of the few things about her education she got right.

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