A raft of measures has been announced in an effort to address discipline problems in schools.
However, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin insists the problem has not reached crisis proportions, despite this week's survey from the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) which revealed critical levels of bullying and intimidation in schools.
The initiative is proposed in the long-awaited report of the Task Force on Student Behaviour published yesterday. Main recommendations include:
New regional behaviour support teams, made up of teachers and psychologists, to work with up to 50 schools that have significant discipline problems.
Behaviour support classrooms to be piloted in 30 schools. This will provide a short term "cooling-off" period for seriously disruptive pupils.
A review of the workings of Section 29 of the Education Act, which schools say can make it difficult for them to expel pupils.
New legislation is promised but the Minister says this is not designed to make it easier for schools to expel pupils, as all children have a right to education. Instead, it will probably shorten the appeal period. Ms Hanafin said it was now her intention to act on the issue in a measured and effective way. "The report puts the issue of student discipline in its proper context. We do not have a crisis. We do not have a breakdown in the operation of our schools. By and large our schools are operating well, and most students are getting a good, well rounded education," she said.
The new behaviour support teams will operate, from next September, in about 50 second-level schools who are experiencing very serious disciplinary problems. In all, there are over 700 second-level schools. The behaviour support classrooms, proposed by the task force, are seen as an alternative to so called "sin bins". The chairperson of the task force, Dr Maeve Martin of NUI Maynooth, says these can help the re-integration of pupils into the mainstream of school life.
In a proposal which may not find favour with some teachers, the taskforce also envisages these classroom being used by disruptive pupils who have successfully appealed against their expulsion from school.
"There is an obvious benefit in schools being in a position to remove problematic students from the mainstream classroom-setting for a limited period . . . once this removal results in intensive work with those students and results in their reintegration back into the mainstream system," Ms Hanafin said.
The taskforce report also recommends the expansion of existing youth encounter projects and youthreach services.
The Minister said legal changes would seek to stress the rights of the compliant majority to learn, while protecting the rights of the persistently disruptive student to an education.
Ms Hanafin rejected a task force proposal for smaller classes. She said a proposal to recruit an additional 1,200 teachers would cost €60 million and have no impact on discipline.
The report also proposes that the Junior Certificate Schools Programme should be available in more schools.
The report has "shied away" from tough legal challenges and does not go far enough, the Teachers Union of Ireland said. Declan Glynn, its assistant general secretary, said all post-primary schools were experiencing significant difficulty in managing student behaviour. Yet, the new behaviour and classroom support would only be available to one in every 25 schools.
He added: "It is very regrettable that the task force has shied away from even considering rights-based legislation for teachers. We will continue to press the case for legislation which will provide a legal basis for teachers' authority."
John White, of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland, said the report "provides the blueprint for the Minister to improve the disciplinary atmosphere in our schools". The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals welcomed the "balanced comprehensive" analysis presented in the report.
