It is that time of the year when teachers are enjoying their well-earned summer holidays. Children similarly look forward to the long summer break to spend their time doing what their parents allow them to do. Most of the time they play games on their tablets and consoles, or communicate with their friends on their smartphones. This is not the way things used to be.

A recent TV programme on the UK’s Channel 4 entitled Excluded at Seven revealed a serious problem faced by some schools that often expel young pupils because of violence and gross misbehaviour. Some move to other schools, where they often repeat the same pattern of bad behaviour.

If the future well-being of our society also depends on the social skills that children develop in their early years of schooling, then we need to address the problem of challenging pupils who behave badly.

Teachers will tell you that our schools are ill-equipped to deal with children with more complex needs. Some go even further and claim that heads of schools are pressurised to hit their achievement targets. They are increasingly eager to swiftly offload any troublemakers.

But is chronic gross misbehaviour in our schools just a result of poor management and insufficient resources?

Few doubt that society is changing at a fast rate. In a typical family today both parents are probably working on a full-time basis leaving them little time to interact with their children. Gone are the days when children spent their time playing on our streets or going to the various youth centres in our towns and villages to practise some sport or pastime.

One teacher in a primary school told me that some of her pupils never tried to solve a jigsaw puzzle as they never had one. But they were very good at staring at a screen playing computer games.

Parents often unwittingly exacerbate their children’s inherent bad behaviour

The spread of knowledge in child psychology has also made it easier to diagnose complex behavioural and emotional issues like ADHD and autism. The big challenge facing school managers is that few, if any, teachers are professionally prepared to deal with the symptoms of such psychological conditions.

Lack of funding results in unacceptable bad behaviour by a small minority of pupils as there are rarely enough professional child psychologists to monitor and help these challenging pupils.

Parents often unwittingly exacerbate their children’s inherent bad behaviour by piling up pressure on them to excel in the academic field. Private lessons, sitting for exams a year ahead of time, long hours of enforced study and shorter leisure time deprive children of the joys of childhood. The stress levels of children under the age of seven is increasing. This does not bode well for the future.

Engage Trust is a UK organisation that runs nine academies for children who have been excluded from mainstream education because of gross misbehaviour and violence. Their CEO Des Reynolds maintains that it is lack of will rather than funding that is making the problem of pupil maladjustment in schools even more serious. He confirms that, “a preoccupation with academic league tables meant head teachers were expelling even young children for behaviour they would have spent time correcting in the past”.

We are living in a society that expects instant results whether it is in the sphere of business or education. Teachers try to do their job and do not deserve to have things thrown at them or to be threatened with violence by children. Also, many argue that our educational system has no provisions for dealing with a child that does not fit the norm of what is acceptable behaviour in school.

Our educationists’ obsession with inclusive education will not deliver the desired social benefits if challenging pupils are not managed in a way that will benefit them in the long term.

Pupils who feel cross, rejected or frightened by a normal school environment need people who understand their emotions better.

For the good of our society we need a ‘back to basics’ educational philosophy which includes a strong element of physical activity in the school curriculum, as well as activities that promote better social skills like swimming competitions, hiking and just running in the fresh air.

The experience of special schools that cater for challenging pupils in the UK has proven that 80 per cent of children who attend these schools often improve their behaviour sufficiently to be allowed back in mainstream classes. Most also catch up academically.

Doesn’t every challenging child deserve a second chance?

johncassarwhite@yahoo.com

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