A research report said that Behaviour and Education Support Teams had a positive impact on children and young people in the four main areas of attainment, attendance, behaviour, and wellbeing. (The teams were multi-agency teams, bringing together a range of professionals, who supported schools, families and children (aged 5-18) who presented, or were at risk of developing, emotional, behavioural, and/or attendance problems.)
Source: Karen Halsey, Caroline Gulliver, Annie Johnson, Kerry Martin and Kay Kinder, Evaluation of Behaviour and Education Support Teams, Research Report 706, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2005-Dec
Researchers found that a programme to improve behaviour and attendance had had a significant positive effect.
Source: Susan Hallam, Frances Castle and Lynne Rogers with others, Research and Evaluation of the Behaviour Improvement Programme, Research Report 702, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2005-Nov
Researchers in Scotland examined the links between mental health and behaviour in schools, and sought to identify what parents and children perceived as successful responses to behaviour they believed to be caused by mental and emotional health problems.
Source: Janet Shucksmith, Kate Philip, Jennifer Spratt and Cate Watson, Investigating the Link Between Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools, Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400)
Links: Report
Date: 2005-Nov
A report examined the views of schoolchildren aged 10-16 on what 'respect' meant to them, and how they and the teachers and other staff within the school demonstrated it. There was considerable consensus between pupils, teachers and headteachers on discipline and classroom management.
Source: Jacqui Newvell, Derek Willis and Anita Bratherton, Respect in the Classroom: Young people tell us what they think, National Children s Bureau (020 7843 6029)
Links: Children Now report
Date: 2005-Oct
Research found that the education and well-being of many young people in England suffered as a result of being excluded from school.
Source: Francesca Taylor, A Fair Hearing?: Researching young people s involvement in the school exclusion process, Save the Children (020 7703 5400)
Links: SCF press release
Date: 2005-Oct
A report (by an official advisory group) presented practical suggestions for improving pupil behaviour and school discipline. Good teaching was key to promoting good behaviour: but all schools also needed to have strategies in place to help pupils manage their behaviour, with a balance of rewards and sanctions.
Source: Learning Behaviour: The report of the Practitioners' Group on School Behaviour and Discipline, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | DfES press release | NASUWT press release | NAHT press release | LGA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Oct
Between 2003-04 and 2004-05 the percentage of half days missed due to all absences in schools in England decreased from 6.83 per cent to 6.45 per cent. This represented a reduction of 5.6 per cent, compared to a target of 8 per cent between 2003-04 and 2008-09. The government announced plans for an intensive drive against an estimated 8,000 serial truants in 146 secondary schools which accounted for 1 in 5 of all instances of truancy across the country.
Source: Pupil Absence in Schools in England: 2004/2005 (Provisional), Statistical First Release 40/2005, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288) | Press release 21 September 2005, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: SFR (pdf) | DfES press release | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Sep
A report said that truancy sweeps were an ineffective use of police time, and that most young people subjected to investigation were not truants.
Source: How Effective are Truancy Sweeps?, Action on Rights for Children (020 8558 9317)
Links: Report (pdf) | Young People Now report
Date: 2005-Sep
A think-tank report said that teachers disliked excluding pupils from school, and feared that doing so was not in the interests of children or the wider community.
Source: Jodie Reed, Towards Zero Exclusion, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Central Books (0845 458 9911)
Links: Summary (Word file) | IPPR press release
Date: 2005-Sep
A report examined the problems of school disaffection, truancy, and exclusion from school. It looked at the role of charities in supporting children, young people, their families and schools; and it analyzed of the results of charities' activities.
Source: Emilie Goodall, School s Out?: Truancy and exclusion - A guide for donors and funders, New Philanthropy Capital (0207 401 8080)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2005-Sep
The Prime Minister reportedly suggested that the parents of children suspended from school for disruptive behaviour should be forced to stay at home with them. The idea was rejected as impractical by parents' organizations and by teachers.
Source: The Guardian, 21 July 2005
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2005-Jul
Researchers found that there did appear to be some statistical relationship between pupil attendance and attainment: but this relationship was not uniform or straightforward. Non-attendance appeared to have a bigger impact on boys' achievement than on girls' achievement.
Source: Marian Morris and Simon Rutt, An Analysis of Pupil Attendance Data in Excellence in Cities (EiC) Areas and Non-EIC EAZs: Final Report, Research Report 657, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jul
A report said that a national network of dedicated school buses could reduce traffic congestion, lower greenhouse gas emissions, increase safety, and reduce truancy.
Source: No More School Run: Proposal for a national yellow bus scheme in the UK, Sutton Trust (020 8788 3223)
Links: Report (pdf) | Children Now report
Date: 2005-Jun
There were 9,880 permanent exclusions from schools in England in 2003-04: this was an increase of 6 per cent compared to 2002-03, but over 20 per cent lower than the 1996-97 peak. 220 exclusions (2.2 per cent of the total) were overturned by an appeal panel in 2003-04: of these, 130 (1.3 per cent of the total) resulted in reinstatement - a reduction of 13 per cent on the previous year.
Source: Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools and Exclusion Appeals in England 2003/04, Statistical First Release 23/2005, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: SFR (pdf) | DfES press release
Date: 2005-Jun
The government announced the creation of the Leadership Group on Behaviour and Discipline, a working group charged with considering ways to improve discipline in the classroom, including greater sanctions for parents and more power for head teachers.
Source: Press release 20 May 2005, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: DfES press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2005-May
A report said that peer support programmes in schools had the potential to deliver a reduction in bullying, better classroom behaviour, and a lowering of teachers' stress levels.
Source: Every School Should Have One: How peer support schemes make schools better, Childline (020 7650 3444)
Links: Report (pdf) | Childline press release
Date: 2005-May
The education inspectorate in Scotland said that many local authorities and schools were successfully implementing policies on improving pupil behaviour, and there was evidence of positive change. However, discipline continued to be an issue for staff, pupils and local authorities.
Source: A Climate for Learning: A review of the implementation of the 'Better Behaviour - Better Learning' report, HM Inspectorate of Education in Scotland (01506 600200)
Links: Report | SE press release
Date: 2005-Mar
A schools inspectorate report said that strong leadership and effective teaching of an appropriate curriculum, supported by training and coupled with good links with parents and outside agencies, were key to managing 'challenging' pupil behaviour.
Source: Managing Challenging Behaviour, HMI 2363, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833)
Links: Report (pdf) | OFSTED press release | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Mar
Researchers investigated the responses of local education authorities and schools to the requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 in relation to their minority ethnic pupils and exclusion practices. (The Act placed duties on organizations, from April 2002, to examine their practices and consider adjusting them if they had negative effects on minority ethnic groups.) The disproportionality in rates of permanent exclusion for minority ethnic pupils, particularly black Caribbean pupils and those from other black backgrounds, had fallen considerably over the previous six years: but black Caribbean pupils were still excluded at just over three times the rate of white pupils, and those from other black backgrounds at 2.7 times the rate of white pupils.
Source: Carl Parsons et al., Minority Ethnic Exclusions and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, Research Report 616, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2005-Feb
An audit report highlighted the major challenge faced by the government in reducing pupil absence from schools. Some progress had been made in reducing total absence. At the same time, there had been no decline in unauthorized absence, the causes of which had proved difficult to tackle. The government needed to sustain momentum to achieve substantial and lasting improvements in pupil attendance.
Source: Improving School Attendance in England, HC 212 (Session 2004-05), National Audit Office (020 7798 7000)
Links: Report (pdf) | NAO press release | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Feb
A study examined the attitudes of parents and carers towards pupil attendance, with particular emphasis on determining how the attitudes of those whose children were persistent poor attenders differed from those whose children had rarely or never missed school. Attitudes towards education were generally very positive, with nearly all (97 per cent) agreeing that a good education would help their child to get ahead in life.
Source: Douglas Dalziel and Kirsty Henthorne, Parents'/Carers' Attitudes Towards School Attendance, Research Report 618, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2005-Feb
A study found that the highest levels of absence from schools in England, affecting pupils levels of attainment, occurred in the areas of greatest deprivation.
Source: Ian Schagen, Tom Benton and Simon Rutt, Study of Attendance in England: Report for the National Audit Office, National Foundation for Educational Research (01753 747281)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2005-Feb
Researchers evaluated alternative educational provision for young people permanently excluded from school, or who were out of school for other reasons, such as non-attendance. They highlighted the positive influence of alternative provision, in terms of a slow-down in the rate of increase in recorded offending while students were attending the projects, and positive educational and behavioural outcomes.
Source: Sally Kendall, Kay Kinder, Annie Johnson, Charlotte Fletcher-Morgan and Richard White, A Further Study of the Effects of Alternative Education Initiatives: Final report, Online Report 07/05, Home Office (web publication only)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jan
