Great Britain: Yobs' mums face sin-bins (Teachers will be allowed to detain students AND parents)

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | February 27, 2006 | DAVID WOODING

[Stoat]

EXCLUSIVE

Yobs' mums face sin-bins

Sweeping powers ... Ruth Kelly
 

By DAVID WOODING

Whitehall Editor

 PARENTS face weekend detentions with their kids under a tough crackdown on classroom rowdies.

Unruly pupils will have to attend catch-up lessons while their mums and dads get a lecture on how to control them.

The move is among sweeping powers to tackle problem children in the Education Bill unveiled tomorrow.

Teachers will be given the legal right to detain kids on any day they choose, with or without parents’ consent.

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly wants heads to set up Saturday sin-bins for bullies, yobs and truants.

Offenders will be forced to turn up in full school uniform, with a parent, for two hours’ tuition. Ms Kelly said it would give staff more authority and raise standards.

She said: “It only takes a handful of poorly behaved pupils to make life difficult for staff and disrupt the education of others. The message to the minority is clear — disrupt the class and you will disrupt your weekend.”

Parenting orders, backed by the threat of a £500 fine, will be slapped on families of kids who skip detention.

Headteachers are also set to get more control over the fate of excluded pupils. They will be able to summon parents of kids barred for bad behaviour for an interview before they are re-admitted.

Another measure allows teachers to seize mobile phones, iPods and games consoles if they are used in class.

And their powers to punish kids will extend to those who misbehave on the way to and from school. The tough rules are sure to win widespread support among unions, Tory MPs, and even Labour rebels.Weekend detention was pioneered by Stockwell Park High School, South London, with astonishing results. Truancy rates have slumped while exam results have soared in four years.

Since the 2002 launch, the number of pupils getting five or more good GCSEs has risen from 26 to 58 per cent. Half-days lost through truancy fell eight per cent.

• DEFIANT Ruth Kelly has ruled out more concessions to more than 100 Labour rebels against school reforms.

  She is “confident” of getting the Bill through. It gives private firms, faith groups and parents the power to set up and run state schools.

  Sources expect the Government to win with a majority of about 12, by relying on Tory support.

[Stoat]

The Sun Online - Sun Says Make it stick

Make it stick

PLANS to send unruly pupils AND their parents to weekend detention seem like a good idea.

Disruptive kids may think twice about causing classroom chaos if faced with a Saturday sin-bin.

When one school tried the scheme, truancy rates tumbled and exam results soared.

But Ruth Kelly promising new powers to headteachers is one thing, making sure they work is another.

While senior staff might expect to work Saturdays, most ordinary teachers might not be so keen.

If parents fail to show, schools must be prepared to throw the book at them. This will put more pressure on hard-pressed staff.

A decent education is the right of every child in Britain.

Any steps to improve classroom behaviour are to be welcomed.

Just so long as these promises are backed by action.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Why does it seem that all the press releases coming out of the UK are aimed at the Sesame Street audience?

[Caipirabob]

Can they home-school in Britain? I expect it will be "booming" if so.

[Stoat]

Can they home-school in Britain? I expect it will be "booming" if so.

I don't know, but that would certainly be an excellent solution.  It seems that discipline in schools has come to a crisis point.

[The Flying Dutchman]

So.....

...where's Page Three?

[Stoat]

So.....

...where's Page Three?

It's missing from my copy....I guess some kids stole it and took it to school   :-)

[Caipirabob]

Apparently it's perfectly Legal to Homeschool in Britain, but considering the students and parents affected in your post, I doubt that's what will happen in the majority of cases.

Those students with the biggest problems are likely to have parents who consider their children "wards" of the state.

Yet the minority of parents who have these encounters with teachers who are abusive of the policy will have a perfectly legal alternative.

[Stoat]

Thanks you very much for the info and the link!
It's great to know that there is apparently a wsy for parents to escape the undisciplined schools there.

For those who can't or won't, they now will have their dance cards filled on Saturdays, if needed.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Hell, "Mum" can't spell any better than her little "Yobs" are able to manage. The UK has become so obsessed with PC that nothing else matters.
Nothing will save the UK short of an infusion of testosterone, and, they can't have any of mine!

[Diva]

Yes, my understanding is that homeschooling has been an option in England for some time. I believe they refer to it as "education otherwise" as this is a term used in their education law which allows a broad range of educational freedom for families in Britain and Wales. What I have read is that Britain requires children to be educated but does not have a compulsory attendance law as we do in the various states in the US. To homeschool here you must fit under some sort of exemption to the cumpulsory attendance law and each state's law is somewhat different.

[stopem]

Parents with unruly brats should be held responsible for not raising them to behave.

To many kids these days have no respect for their elders, teachers, parents. Especially in public.

But on the flipside teachers don't have respect for students, how many cases have there been of rape by teachers lately?

[Amelia]

To many kids these days have no respect for their elders, teachers, parents. Especially in public. But on the flipside teachers don't have respect for students, how many cases have there been of rape by teachers lately?

The majority of students are not unruly brats or thugs, and the majority of teachers are not sexual perverts, but there are enough of each to give both a bad name.

It doesn't take but one or two disruptive students to bring down a class sometimes, and parents should have some responsibility for the behavior of their children in public places - although we all know that some children can be uncontrollable short of jail, sadly.

It goes without saying that criminal, perverted, and incompetent teachers should be removed from the classroom, but it's sometimes hard to find teachers when students are mostly seen as unruly brats - who wants to spend their days putting up with that?

[DH]

"It seems that discipline in schools has come to a crisis point."

No, you are wrong...discipline at HOME has come to a crisis point!

[wolfcreek]

I think potential parents should be required to take classes in order to evaluate whether they have what it takes to raise a child. It's a responsibility, not a hobby.

[jch10]

" The tough rules are sure to win widespread support among unions, "

Hear this NEA??? The unions in the UK actually want what is best for students. Unlike here in the US where it is a teachers' union, much too political, and could care less for the interests of students.

By the way, I like the ideas they suggest. Sounds like good ways to get the attention of parents whose children are disipline problems.

[Mister Da]

I have always said that parents should be held accountable for the actions of their children. A few Saturdays in detention will solve a lot of problems.

As for the staff having to work on Saturdays, let them have off, while the rest of us read the riot act to these "people". I'd be willing to volunteer some Saturdays to teach these people some basic social skills.

One problem: What to do with the PARENTS who act up while in detention?

[Stoat]

I think potential parents should be required to take classes in order to evaluate whether they have what it takes to raise a child. It's a responsibility, not a hobby.

[Stoat]

"It seems that discipline in schools has come to a crisis point."

No, you are wrong...discipline at HOME has come to a crisis point!

Point taken....one certainly begets the other.

[Stoat]

Parents with unruly brats should be held responsible for not raising them to behave.

It's rather astonishing to me that they're not.

To many kids these days have no respect for their elders, teachers, parents. Especially in public.

Very true and very sad.  Although I confess that my perceptions on this are neither far-reaching nor the result of a scientific analysis, I haven't noticed such behavior from home-schooled kids.

But on the flipside teachers don't have respect for students, how many cases have there been of rape by teachers lately?

A reflection of the shoddy standards implemented in educating, certifying and hiring teachers, as well as the teachers' unions' fixation upon political correctness....: "So what if Teacher Smith has a history of criminal behavior in the past....he/she has assured us that he/she is a changed person and so it's out duty to give them a second chance"

[Stoat]

" The tough rules are sure to win widespread support among unions, "

Hear this NEA??? The unions in the UK actually want what is best for students. Unlike here in the US where it is a teachers' union, much too political, and could care less for the interests of students.

By the way, I like the ideas they suggest. Sounds like good ways to get the attention of parents whose children are disipline problems.

Agreed.  To even suggest such things here in the USA would result in screaming, hysterical condemnation of your "Nazi" policy suggestion and massive, organized protests would be launched against you.  Your home would be picketed 24/7 until they bullied you into a resignation and eventually your home would be burned to the ground.