09 July 2001

Education and Skills Secretary Estelle Morris today announced changes to the law on exclusions and the extension of Parenting Orders under a package of measures to tackle disruptive behaviour in schools.

The measures include:

· changes to the law on exclusions to ensure that appeals panels properly reflect the challenges facing headteachers and the interests of the school community;

· a consultation on extending Parenting Orders and maximising support to schools in dealing with disruptive children and violent parents;

· a positive package of preventative action to promote good behaviour; and

· making admissions forums mandatory - to advise on co-ordinated admissions arrangements locally - including the reintegration of excluded pupils.

Estelle Morris said:

"Disruptive behaviour wears down teachers, interferes with the education of other pupils, and condemns some children to failure at school and long term problems. I want to tackle the roots of poor behaviour in children, as well as strengthen the boundaries against violence and disruption."

Estelle Morris confirmed that she will set no fresh targets to cut exclusions further, following an estimated fall of nearly one third over the last three years:

"We have made so much progress in giving schools the resources they need to cut exclusions that we can move the agenda on to promoting the fundamentals of good behaviour."

Headteachers who need to exclude violent or persistently disruptive pupils will receive more support. Estelle Morris said:

"I will change the law on exclusions to make the impact of bad behaviour on other pupils and school staff a more prominent factor in deciding on appeals against exclusions. I am asking my officials to consult about changes over the summer, with a view to including changes in the forthcoming Education Bill.

"Admissions Forums broker local voluntary agreements between schools to co-ordinate the rapid re-integration of children excluded from other schools. They encourage both over-subscribed schools and schools with spare places to take a fair share of excluded pupils and pupils with challenging behaviour. I propose that Admissions Forums become mandatory to ensure that children without a school receive their entitlement to one quickly.

"I propose to extend Parenting Orders so that they can be used to make parents take responsibility for the behaviour of their children in school. Parenting Orders have proved their value in getting parents engaged where children are anti-social on the streets. I want to see them used constructively to get parents to support schools in setting boundaries for children who disrupt classes.

"Schools need other ways of tackling parents who are themselves violent, intimidating or abusive. There are effective legal sanctions, but schools need more support to use them - against anti-social behaviour, against harassment of staff or pupils, against trespass, against assault or public disorder. I am clear, however, that the innocent child should not be excluded for the misbehaviour of the parent. I am launching a consultation today on how we and LEAs can support schools which need to stop violence or abuse from parents."

Estelle Morris said the Government was committed to investing heavily in in-school units for disruptive children. Well-managed in-school units are helping to put disruptive pupils back on track. Over 1,000 support units have been set up so far.

"The successful Excellence in Cities programme is already providing some 1,500 Learning Mentors in some of our most deprived secondary schools, with another 900 mentors in primary schools. This has helped improve standards - EiC schools' exam results are improving significantly faster than the national average. More learning mentors and learning support units will be created as the initiative expands through the spread of Excellence Clusters to smaller areas of deprivation and underperformance."

From September next year, for the first time, full-time education will be offered to all young people who are permanently excluded. LEAs' progress will be monitored and swift action will be taken if any fall behind.

Estelle Morris added:

"LEAs are investing £37 million more than two years ago to back this commitment, up from £165 million in 1999/2000 to £202 million this year. We know that 40 new Pupil Referral Units are planned for this year and LEAs are recruiting many more staff for these units. Standards are improving sharply in PRUs and we will be working closely with units to ensure that the standards of the best are replicated across the country."

The Government will be publishing proposals to tackle the roots of poor behaviour in children in a forthcoming White Paper. Estelle Morris said:

"We are currently pulling together a programme to promote good behaviour. This is not only about setting firm boundaries for children, it is about helping them get control of their emotions and relations with others - their overall emotional intelligence - from the early years. The programme will include more teacher training, better working between health and education to spot and tackle problems and more support for young children at the start of school."

Editor's Notes

1. The changes proposed by the Secretary of State are to the legislation governing exclusion appeals (School Standards and Framework Act 1998, section 67 and Schedule 18 as amended) and to the guidance on exclusions given by her from time to time (currently in Circular 10/99 as amended). They are:
· to introduce a requirement for the appeal panel to balance the interests of the excluded pupil against the interests of all the other members of the school community;
· to make clear in legislation that the remit of the exclusions panel consists of giving a fresh rehearing to the facts of the case. It is proposed to legislate that that a full and fair hearing before the panel cures any defects in prior procedure. This will avoid the possibility of appeals panels reinstating pupils on a 'technicality' (or a series of 'technicalities') relating to prior procedure, when on the merits of the case the exclusion was justified; and
· to require that a majority of members of appeals panels have direct experience of school management. The current guidance within Circular 10/99 only advises that a teacher may sit on the panel. The proposed change goes further than this. The panel should have a majority of independent people with direct experience of school management in education, (for example serving or former headteachers, members of a school management team.).

2. Parenting Orders are available under s8 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. They impose requirements on parents to help them bring up their child in a way that minimises anti-social or offending behaviour. They have been nationally available since June 2000. They are made by criminal courts, magistrates courts acting in civil cases, and family proceedings courts. The Order may include attendance at counselling or guidance sessions to help a parent cope better with a child's challenging behaviour, and to help set and enforce sensible boundaries of discipline. It may also include other requirements. For example parents may be required to ensure their child attends school or a homework club, avoids contact with disruptive children, avoids certain areas, is home at night or attends anger management or similar courses.

3. The forthcoming White Paper on secondary schools will detail a programme of work to support schools in setting high expectations of behaviour and strengthening the emotional intelligence of pupils. The programme will be developed to meet four goals: I) early intervention to promote good behaviour and to help young children who have problems with the basics of concentrating and co-operating; ii) good training for teachers, learning support assistants and all adults in schools in managing behaviour, excellent classroom practice and working with parents and other services; iii) encouragement for parents to take responsibility for their children's behaviour; and iv) better co-operation between school and other services - including the health service.

4. The statutory Code of Practice on School Admissions, published in April 1999, says that local education authorities, foundation schools and voluntary aided schools should set up local Admissions Forums. Admission Forums broker voluntary agreements locally on school admission arrangements, between different admission authorities and between interested parties. In particular, they can play a central role in protecting the interests of vulnerable groups, such as children who have special educational needs and groups of children who, because of their circumstances, may be seeking a school place outside the normal admission round when available places have already been allocated.They provide the means for all key local partners involved in making admissions arrangements to ensure that the arrangements meet the best interests of parents, and that schools take their fair share of pupils who have to move for whatever reason. The proposal to make them mandatory will be subject to consultation.

5. The Targeted Standards Fund grant, to tackle poor behaviour, is up from £17 million in 1997 to £174 million this year. An additional £11.25 million is available to secondary schools to enable electronic registration to be installed. From April 2001 the Children's Fund and Connexions Service will provide further money making at least £600 million over the next 3 years to support a range of initiatives for young people, including tackling truancy and exclusion.

6.There are now over 300 Pupil Referral Units (PRUs). Since 1997 the number of teaching and support staff at PRUs has increased by nearly 600 and the number of pupil places by over 1,000. A third of PRUs already offer full-time provision and from September this year two -thirds of local authorities will be making full-time provision for excluded secondary pupils. Ofsted's latest annual report indicated sharply improving standards at PRUs.

7. Official figures show that there has been a drop in annual permanent exclusions from 10,400 in 1998/99 to an estimated 8,600 in 1999/2000 - an 18 per cent decrease and nearly a third less than the peak of 12,700 in 1996/97. The Government's target for 2002 is 8,400. Final figures are due out in a DfES Statistical First Release on 19 July. The Secretary of State has said that she is satisfied that the level of permanent exclusions reached is sustainable and has confirmed that no fresh targets will be set.

CLICK HERE FOR CONSULTATION ON EXTENDING THE USE OF PARENTING ORDERS

Contact Details

Public enquiries: 0870 000 2288, info@dfee.gov.uk

Press Notice 2001/0300