Schools face wait for help in dealing with unruly pupils

A NUMBER of schools have admitted help is required in dealing with unruly students, but they may have to wait several months before getting assistance from experts working to address the issue.

Education Minister Mary Hanafin has made senior appointments to the National Behaviour Support Service. Further staff will be appointed in the coming months, and will work in up to 50 schools to help them put in place policies and practices aimed at addressing significant misbehaviour patterns.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said it would be up to the coordinators to decide which schools should avail of the services.

“The behaviour support teams will be inviting schools to put themselves forward. But schools have already contacted the department to express their interest in getting help.

“When the staff are in place, then it will be decided who will get the services.”

The behaviour support teams will include teachers, principals, educational psychologists and other experts.

Ms Hanafin said their work will include examining school leadership and management practices, whether extra programmes could be offered, how much parents are involvement in school matters and whether student councils are in place to give young people a voice on discipline and other policies.

The plan is that behaviour support classrooms will then be set up in about 30 schools with the most difficult behaviour problems.

While continuing work towards the Junior Certificate or Leaving Certificate, they might avail of services such as anger management, resource teaching or other supports to help them integrate back to the mainstream classroom.

“It’s certainly not designed that you would have people being dumped out of the classroom into an extra room somewhere, they have to be helped integrate back,” Ms Hanafin said.

While welcoming the principle of extra support, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) said it has a serious difference of opinion with the Department of Education about the scale of the problem of disruption, as only 50 of the country’s 750 schools will benefit.