Indiscipline supports 'woefully inadequate'

THE Teachers' Union of Ireland has criticised the "woefully inadequate" support system for teachers trying to tackle the growing problem of disruptive students in class.

Delegates at the union's annual congress in Dublin are expected to overwhelmingly back a motion to be put forward by the TUI executive today calling for the establishment of a Commission on School Discipline by the Education Minister.

TUI assistant general secretary Declan Glynn said that such a measure was necessary to bring forward a range of workable strategies to address misbehaviour.

Outlining a special report on school indiscipline to the conference, Mr Glynn said the union was strongly in favour of the creation of Learning Support Units in schools.

He claimed TUI members now class indiscipline as being as important as pay and conditions.

"The effects on health of teachers due to indiscipline should be a cause for alarm," said Mr Glynn.

TUI president Paddy Healy has also made the issue the main priority of his term in office.

The TUI, which represents more than 13,000 second and third level teachers, believes that existing legislation is balanced in favour of individual students rather than benefiting the whole school community, including teachers and well-behaved students.

Union members have also been critical of the "highly selective" enrolment policies of some "better schools". As a result, schools with open enrolment policies have a disproportionately higher number of students with behavioural problems, said Mr Glynn.

He welcomed the establishment of a task force on student behaviour in second-level schools by Education Minister Mary Hanafin last December.