School discipline

Places for pupils excluded from school and placed in referral units would rise from 4,000 to 24,000 and the units would be renamed "turnaround schools" under Conservative plans, Michael Howard has said.

In a speech on education on Monday, the Tory leader reaffirmed proposals to reverse current government policy and return complete control over discipline to headteachers and governors.

Party Response: Conservative

Michael Howard, leader of the Conservatives, said:"School discipline is not some optional extra. It is the starting point. If our children are to get the decent education they deserve - and our country is to have the skilled workforce it so desperately needs - proper discipline in our schools is essential.

"Children learn best in a safe, secure and structured environment. They cannot learn in classes where loutish behaviour and disrespect for others are the norm.

"Parents want greater involvement in their children's education. They want to be able to choose the school they think is best for their child - schools where children stand up when the teachers comes into a room, where desks are arranged in rows, where the children wear school uniforms, where discipline is enforced and all pupils learn the basics - reading, writing and arithmetic."

Party Response: Liberal Democrat

Phil Willis, Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said: "Michael Howard has replaced the pledge of a grammar school in every town with the promise of a borstal in every town.

 

"This is simply another Tory proposal that doesn't add up. The Tories fail to explain how they would pay for security and policing and what the consequences are if a pupil fails to attend. Michael Howard seems to have no idea how he is planning to recruit and specially train the necessary teachers and how he will negotiate the legal minefield created by abolishing the appeals process.