Chamber and committees

It has been well established in Scottish education legislation that education authorities and schools have a duty to ensure good discipline in schools, by making rules and applying sanctions if pupils or parents fail to comply with those rules, as follows:

In the day-to-day conduct of every school under their management, an education authority shall ensure that care is taken to develop in pupils “reasonable and responsible social attitudes and relationships; consideration for others; good manners …”

Regulation 11 of the Schools General (Scotland) Regulations 1975

An education authority has the power to exclude a pupil from school if the parent of the pupil refuses or fails to comply, or to allow the pupil to comply, with the rules, regulations or disciplinary requirements of the school, or consider that to allow the pupil to continue attendance at the school would be likely to be seriously detrimental to order and discipline in the school:

Regulation 4 of the Schools General (Scotland) Regulations 1975 (as amended by the Schools General (Scotland)(Amendment) Regulations 1982 and the Schools General (Scotland) Amendment (2) Regulations 1982.

Education authorities have a duty to supply basic information to any parent, including school policy on discipline, school rules and enforcement of attendance:

Education (School and Placing Information)(Scotland) Regulations 1982; Schedule 2

The right to discipline pupils by corporal punishment was repealed in the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000; but exclusion and other forms of sanctions are used daily within Scotland’s schools.

Scottish Executive policy on discipline in schools makes it clear that schools and education authorities should develop a clear system of rules, sanctions and rewards in consultation with pupils and parents (Better Behaviour – Better Learning, 2001).

Education authorities are recommended to have in place guidelines on levels of intervention, for example in relation to restraint (recommendation 11 of Better Behaviour – Better Learning). The handbook on child protection in education, Safe and Well (2005), reiterated the importance of ensuring good practice and of training for staff in safe techniques in settings where restraint may be necessary. Many education authorities use training programmes such as CALM or Therapeutic Crisis Intervention for their staff.

Safe and Well also provides advice on how schools should respond if a child is found to be in possession of a weapon in school.

The Scottish Executive works with education authorities and schools to tackle bullying and promote positive behaviour. We have published design guidance for authorities which highlights the importance of their considering, at an early stage in any design process, the need to engage in thorough consultations and to ensure that design proposals will indeed contribute to the provision of a safe and secure environment in all areas of the school.

In 2001 the Discipline Task Group report Better Behaviour – Better Learning recommended that secondary schools and designated primary schools should establish flexible support provision allowing children to receive support and learning outwith the normal classroom environment.

In their 2005 report A Climate for Learning, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) noted that support bases had been developed in almost all secondary schools and in a number of primary schools. HMIE found many examples of good practice and described key factors for success for schools and authorities to follow.

The Scottish Executive’s 2001 report, Better Behaviour-Better Learning, sets out 36 recommendations for schools and authorities. These recommendations form the basis of the Scottish Executive’s funding to education authorities of £10 million per year for promoting positive behaviour.

The Scottish Executive issued guidance in 2003 on exclusion from school, which identifies the provision that education authorities should make for pupils who are excluded from school. The Scottish Executive provides funding of £11 million per year for alternatives to exclusion.

The full text of Better Behaviour – Better Learning can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/education/rdtg-00.asp.

Guidance to education authorities on exclusion from school in Scotland can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/cefs-00.asp.

Scottish education authorities work with their schools to ensure their development plans reflect appropriate objectives for behaviour and attendance. Education authorities have local quality assurance and quality improvement officers to assist head teachers to review their practice on promoting positive behaviour in schools and to consider strategies to improve behaviour and attendance. In most areas, schools are also assisted by advisors within education authorities, including educational psychologists and specialists in behaviour support services.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education plays an advisory role for education authorities in ensuring improvement. The Scottish Executive supports sharing of good practice to enable education authorities and schools to consider the development of their local approaches to promoting positive behaviour and attendance, through the website www.betterbehaviourscotland.gov.uk, through reports such as the Connect Report (Scottish Executive Education Department 2004) and through local seminars and conferences.

The 2001 report of the Discipline Task Group, Better Behaviour - Better Learning, provides a strong policy framework for school discipline, which ensures that education authorities and schools agree a local policy framework within which pupils, parents and staff are clear on their responsibilities and the rules of the school. Many education practitioners have shared the view that an on-going process of consultation and development between these parties is essential to a relevant and meaningful system of rules and rewards in schools, to which there is shared commitment.

The Scottish Executive maintains a dialogue with key stakeholders on issues concerning school discipline. Stakeholders have agreed our current approach, to provide schools and authorities with a range of options to promote positive behaviour, and trust in their professionalism and judgment in tailoring these to suit their local circumstances.

In 2005-06 through the National Priorities Action Fund, the Scottish Executive is making available £11 million for Alternatives to Exclusion; £10 million for implementation of Better Behaviour – Better Learning; £25 million for Inclusion; £15,000 per authority for Staged Intervention. All of these strands of the National Priorities Action Fund may be used to support initiatives and programmes to improve pupil behaviour in schools.

Additional funding has been provided for a number of initiatives such as:

Initiative	Funding Period	£ Awarded
Restorative Practices	2004-06	135,000
Being Cool in School Primary (2 stages)	2003-04	100,000
Being Cool in School Secondary	2003-04	90,000
SELF	2004-07	200,000
Motivated Schools	2003-04	50,000
Developing Empathy	2004-05	60,000
Solution Oriented Schools	2004-06	118,080
Inclusion Resource (Barnardo’s)	2003-06	138,018
Inclusion Resource (East Renfrewshire)	2004-05	21,000

 

The Restorative Practices pilots are being evaluated on an action research basis by a team from Edinburgh University and Glasgow University, and the evaluation of Staged Intervention is due to be published in January.

Further information on these initiatives and other approaches which have been developed to improve school discipline can be found on the Scottish Executive’s Better Behaviour website www.betterbehaviourscotland.gov.uk.

The Scottish Executive invested £12 million for out of school hours learning this year.

Funding for study support and out of school hours learning is currently made available to authorities through the National Priorities Action Fund (NPAF) and will continue to be made available as a component of the gross allocation of the NPAF for 2006-07 and 2007-08.

The Scottish Executive was happy to accept the findings of the SCRE Evaluation of study support and out of school hours learning in Scotland. This showed that almost all secondary schools and over three-quarters of primary schools currently provide a range of study support/out of school hours learning activities.

The SCRE evaluation recommended that the Executive support the development of SS/OSHL by offering more strategic direction, raising awareness of the impact OSHL can have on young people and school communities, promoting partnership working and continuing to support the dissemination of good practice.

In response to this, officials have been working with the Scottish Study Support Network to develop new guidance for OSHL in Scotland. The document will outline the contribution OSHL can make towards the broader education agenda as well as offering good practice and self evaluation guidance. An event is planned to launch the guidance document in spring 2006.

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 place an obligation on producers and users of packaging to recover and recycle packaging waste commensurate with what they produce or use. The End-of-Life Vehicles (Producer Responsibility) Regulations 2005 place an obligation on manufacturers and professional importers of cars and light commercial vehicles to ensure that the vehicles which they place on the market are substantially recovered or recycled when they become waste. Prospective Regulations will place a similar obligation on producers of electrical and electronic equipment.