Scotland releases guidance on improving pupil behaviour

New guidance from the Scottish government on empowering schools to take action on mobile phone use has been published alongside next steps in ongoing work to improve relationships and behaviour in schools.

The ‘Behaviour and Relationships in Schools’ action plan, and targeted guidance for teachers to manage mobile phone use in schools, set out steps to be deployed at the national, local and school level over the next three years in response to concerns about relationships and behaviour in schools.

This includes supporting the effective recording and monitoring of inappropriate behaviour; encouraging schools to reinforce a positive ethos and culture; and providing guidance and support to ensure schools can embed relationships and behaviour policies which set clear expectations of relationships and behaviour.

The new guidance on mobile phone use explains that while it is for individual schools to determine what action to take, head teachers are empowered to take the steps they see fit, including a full ban on mobile phone use in school if that is their judgement.

Mike Corbett, national official Scotland for NASUWT, said: “We are encouraged by the recognition that a range of approaches and consequences are required given that restorative approaches to poor behaviour do not work for all pupils and cannot be the only tool available to schools when responding to incidents of abuse and violence.

“We need to see better recording and monitoring of behaviour incidents in schools as an essential part of ensuring consistency and measuring progress and improvements over time.

“We very much welcome that the principle of serious consequences for serious misbehaviour, up to and including exclusion, where necessary, has been accepted."

He added that the Scottish government must make it clear that serious misbehaviour will carry serious consequences if any plan is to secure a safe and orderly environment for teachers and students.

Education secretary Jenny Gilruth said that improving relationships, behaviour and attendance in schools is one of her top priorities.

She said: "We have been working jointly on this with key partners such as COSLA and SAGRABIS since I was appointed and this new action plan contains a series of steps to be taken which will ensure that both pupils and staff are safe and supported.

"It takes an evidence-based approach to responding to the relationships and behaviour challenges faced in our schools and has been informed by the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR), which heard from nearly 4,000 teachers and support staff, as well as discussions with a wide range of stakeholders including teaching unions at the three behaviour summits."

Gilruth added that there is an "undoubtedly growing behavioural issue associated with mobile phones" in schools.

"This new guidance," she said, "empowers head teachers to take the steps they see fit for their school to limit the use of mobile phones, including a full ban on the school estate if they feel that is required and I would encourage teachers to take all the steps they feel necessary to combat these issues.”