Nick Gibb has criticised the so-called ‘school shaming’ of schools and headteachers which implement tough behaviour policies. 

Speaking at the ‘Wonder Years’ conference organised by Parents and Teachers for Excellence this morning, the school standards minister said heads had had their “reputations attacked and their motives impugned”.

There have been a number of cases in recent years of schools appearing in the national media after excluding pupils for their haircuts and uniform.

Mr Gibb said: “Instead of hearing how headteachers raising academic and behavioural expectations has improved the life chances of pupils, too often, schools and headteachers are attacked for their methods.

“For example, every September sees a litany of headteachers lambasted for implementing a school behaviour system that will often after years of persistent low-level disruption, permit teachers to teach and pupils to learn.

“Sullen looking 13-year-olds with bright red-dyed spiky haircuts stare forlornly out of newspapers pleading that they were unaware that the strict new uniform policy precluded such snazzy haircuts.”

Mr Gibb said that “in the most unfortunate cases, headteachers have their reputations dragged through the media circus, their reputations attacked and their motives impugned, with no regard for the history of underachievement that needs overturning in their schools”.

The minister also attacked the “mischievous or misinformed conflation of fixed-term exclusions with permanent exclusions”, which he said made for “easy swipes at those dedicating their lives to tackling educational underperformance”.

He added: “These headteachers deserve support for their excellent work because up and down the country they are, school by school, helping to turn around local areas that are too often ignored in national education debates.

“They are the experts making the best decisions in the interests of their pupils in a system that prizes both autonomy and accountability, they deserve to be judged by the outcomes they achieve.”