School behaviour policies that are “punitive” can cause harm to children and young people’s mental health and, in some cases, are at risk of contravening schools’ duties to equality and diversity, according to a new report.
Young people, parents and professionals said that the use of behaviour management techniques - such as removal rooms, exclusions, and fines and penalties for non-attendance - are some of the most detrimental techniques used by schools, according to the report by the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition.
The coalition says it recognises that it is important for schools to have clear expectations and boundaries in place, but that “punitive approaches to behaviour management are harming children and young people’s mental health”.
However, government behaviour adviser Tom Bennett warned that the approaches advocated in today’s report ”makes it harder for schools to do their jobs properly”.
The report makes recommendations to expand the government Behaviour Hubs programme and for the national professional qualification in Behaviour and Culture to include training on identifying and addressing the underlying drivers of behaviour.
The report also calls on the Department for Education to ensure teachers are given time for CPD in behaviour, mental health and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The report received 840 responses, 111 from young people, 495 from parents and carers and 234 from professionals. A total of four evidence sessions were held with representatives from education and the charity sector.
More than 79 per cent of young people and 87 per cent of parents and carers agreed that a young person’s behaviour is linked to their mental health. More than 61 per cent of young people and 81 per cent of parents and carers agreed that a young person’s behaviour is linked to SEND.
The report also found that pupils with SEND, those from the Black and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities, and young people from low-income backgrounds were disproportionally affected by behavioural policies.
Some young people and parents told the report that behaviour management techniques that ignore the root causes are not effective in improving behaviour in the long term.
The report says some schools use blanket approaches to behaviour that fail to take into account and accommodate individual needs and disabilities. The coalition says this risks being discriminatory and in contradiction to school duties under the Equality Act 2010.
“Problematic behaviour should not be viewed as something to be managed, but an opportunity to identify needs early and intervene,” the report concludes.
Coalition chair, Amy Whitelock Gibbs, said current behavioural approaches “are simply not working for anyone”.
She added: “Schools are on the frontline of responding to rising mental health needs and widening inequalities, yet reduced school budgets and a lack of access to specialist services means that schools are often having to support pupils with very little resource to do so.
“What our findings demonstrate is that we need to prioritise building effective systems of support around schools and families, so no one is left without the support they need.”
Government policies have ‘failed young people’
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said the report highlights the result of government policies that have “failed young people by insisting on a content-laden, over-prescriptive curriculum, an exam-driven culture and an underfunded SEND support system”.
She added: “Many young people are being driven to a mental health crisis point and schools are expected to deal with the educational and psychological consequences with little or no access to specialist SEND and mental health professionals to enable early and continued support for children and young people.”
Mr Bennett has strongly criticised the report, which he described as ”advocacy, thinly disguised as research.”
He said: ”It has been written by people with very little understanding of how to run challenging classes or schools, and seems to be a summary of multiple activist views that currently trouble education.
“Do you know what really causes mental harm to children? Unsafe schools; schools where learning is constantly disrupted by poor behaviour, where bullying and abuse occur.
“This report is typical of the kind of poorly evidenced claims made by well-intentioned people who mean well but whose activism makes it harder for schools to do their jobs properly.”
Union leaders have said that most schools take a balanced approach to supporting positive behaviour.
James Bowen, assistant general secretary at the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “Creating a positive, inclusive and purposeful learning environment will always be a high priority for school leaders.
“Well-understood behaviour policies are an important part of this as they set out clear expectations for everyone in the school community.
“Most schools take a balanced approach to supporting positive behaviour and it is important to highlight that for the large majority of pupils, these whole-school approaches work well.”
He added that where individual pupils have more complex behavioural needs, additional support should be put in place and schools should consider the link between behaviour, mental health and SEND.
Mr Bowen said: “However, as this report rightly points out, schools cannot do this alone. A lack of access to specialist expertise and support services means that schools are often having to support those with the highest needs with very few resources.”
‘Need to balance sanctions with support’
Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Schools are conscious of the need to balance the use of sanctions with support for pupils whose behaviour reflects deeper problems. They do this through pastoral care, mental health support, SEND provision and PSHE lessons.
“However, they have to strike this balance in the context of extremely limited budgets which constrain the amount of support that they are able to provide.
“This is compounded by the fact that external support services, particularly for children’s mental health care, are overwhelmed and underfunded and, as a result, there are often long waiting lists.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “Our approach to tackling behaviour in schools has been to support schools to develop a behaviour culture that works for them, their pupils and their communities.
”We have updated our Behaviour in Schools guidance to provide clear advice on how to create and maintain high standards and our £10 million Behaviour Hubs programme is supporting up to 700 schools to improve behaviour.”
