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News update: April / May 2007:

How To Manage Behaviour In FE – NOW AVAILABLE

Dave’s new book is now available through Paul Chapman Publishing. Reviews for this book have been good. Rob Long, Behaviour Specialist and Project Worker said the book has “loads of practical ideas for understanding and managing this age group in an FE context. Activities and summaries make it accessible to dip in and find some good ideas on a range of issues. Very useful for the lecturer meeting this age group for the first time, as well as the more experienced.”

The book can be ordered now through Paul Chapman Publishing by clicking the following link www.paulchapmanpublishing.co.uk/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book230688, or alternatively through emailing dave@behaviourmatters.com.

Glass Half Empty? Binge Drinking on Increase In Pre-Teens

Drinking amongst pre-teenage girls has doubled since 2000. Girls aged 11-13 consume on average 8 units a week. This has risen 82.6% since 2000. Boys aged 11-13 consumed 43.6% more alcohol than in 2000.

20 children a day are being admitted to hospital because of binge drinking. Long term damage to livers and brains is being cause by TV and cinema adverts featuring alcoholic drinks, with many television soaps central locations in pubs. Alcoholic dependency affects up to 15% of 16-24 year olds.

Teenagers less Healthy than their parents

Doctors have warned teenagers today are the first generation whose health is worse than their parents, reports the Lancet medical journal. The journal has shown how teenagers today are worse of on binge drinking has reached new heights among teenagers, with the report recommending the drinking age to be raised to 21. The report suggests there is a ‘modern mismatch’ between biological puberty at around 12-13 years and social maturity, when youngsters adopt traditional adult roles.

Dr Viner, expert in adolescent health at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, said there has been a four-fold rise in obesity in the last 20 years, while teenage pregnancy rates are among the worst in Europe. “People are getting married less and education is going on for longer. Young people are tied to their families and they are not financially independent until well into their twenties” claims Dr Vine. “I’m not blaming parents, it’s more the way our society has evolved. But we have to look at whether the ages at which young people are allowed to take on adult roles should be changed, perhaps up as well as down.”

Pupils Expelled for being bullied

Some schools are expelling bullied pupils as they cannot guarantee their safety, a report by the Commons Education Select Committee has found. The report found that some schools are sending bullied pupils home, whilst failing to punish the culprits. “We are concerned to hear that some schools are excluding the victims of bullying on health and safety grounds” claims the report, which urges the Department of Education to “issue new guidance to local authorities and schools, as a matter of urgency, covering not only when exclusions should be used, but also when they must not be used – for example, too prevent victims of bullying from attending school.” However, MPs have acknowledged that schools cannot be expected to take all the responsibility for tackling bullying, with poor parenting and lack of discipline at home playing a key part of the issue of bullying.

Teacher Concern over New Powers

New powers given to teachers have left teaching unions’ voicing concerns that teachers are not clear over their rights in the classroom. New laws brought in April 2nd 2007, have given teachers the right to use reasonable force to control aggressive pupils and to impose disciplinary sanctions, including confiscation mobile phones and music players which are disrupting lessons. However, there are warnings that teachers could still be vulnerable to legal challenges – particularly under the Human Rights Act.

Education Secretary Alan Johnson claims these new laws allow enable Heads to “send out a strong message to troublemakers that if they misbehave, they can expect to be punished.” However Chris Keates, general secretary of NASUWT said “There’s no doubt the Government is giving more backing to schools, but it still doesn’t resolve the age-old problem of a court’s interpretation of ‘reasonable’…We are not going to change our advice to members, which is that getting involved in restraining pupils should be absolutely the last resort.”

Information on the new legislation can be found on Department for Education and Skills web site (http://findoutmore.dfes.gov.uk/2007/04/new_powers_to_d.html).

Self Harm Surge in young Children

Official figures have revealed nearly 100 schoolchildren are being hospitalised every week as a result of self-harm. Analysis of Accident and Emergency admissions in Britain showed that numbers of children under age of 15 attempting suicide are increasing. Recent figures revealed more than 4500 boys and girls aged 14 or under were treated for self-harm in hospitals around the UK last year, an increase of 1421 in the last 6 years.

Children’s charities blame the increase in self harming, suicide attempts and eating disorders, on factors such as bullying, family breakdown and pressures to emulate thin celebrities. Angie Brown, of the charity ChildLine, said “these figures are very worrying and one of the reasons for this is that there is an awful lot of pressure on youngsters to conform in the way they look.” Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity SANE, said “our helpline has seen an alarming increase in the numbers of young people who are harming themselves, some even younger than the age of 13.”

Experts in the filed of depression are calling on the Government to act urgently to provide adequate mental health resources to tackle a potential ‘epidemic’ of depression among youngsters.

Ofsted endorses contraception

A recent report from Oftsed has encouraged schools to hand out contraception to under-age girls in a bid to cut teenage pregnancy. Around one in three children already have easy access to condoms and emergency contraception through sexual health clinics based in secondary schools, with Ministers wanting every secondary school to have access to a nurse providing emergency contraception and advice by 2010 as part of a drive to reduce the number of teenagers becoming pregnant.

The education watchdog declared school nurses ‘provide a valuable service’ distributing contraception and advising pupils on birth control. Inspectors also commented handing out the morning-after pill was more effective at reducing teenage pregnancies than promoting abstinence. Ofsted also praised teen magazines, some aimed at children as young as 12, for offering very positive advice on sex, regarding them as a valuable reading material, despite their often lurid and sometimes sexist content.

However, family campaigners warned the initiative may encourage promiscuity, pointing out that previous studies have failed to find a link between better access to the morning-after pill and fewer teenage pregnancies.

Rewards for Badly Behaving Pupils

A new Government campaign has focussed its attention on offering rewards and praise on troublesome students in return for good behaviour. The campaign states that pupils should be given five rewards for every criticism or punishment they receive. Rewards can include non-uniform days, extended break times, CDs, cinema tickets, personal music players and even new bicycles. The report states it “has long been established that rewards are more effective than punishment in motivating pupils…. [and] by praising and rewarding positive behaviour, others will be encouraged to act similarly.”

However, critics have slammed the guidelines. Robert Whelan, deputy director of the right-learning think tank Civitas, said “we don’t want to give pupils the idea that good behaviour is the exception that has to be rewarded at every stage. Good behaviour should be the norm.”

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