Parents must play their part to end behaviour crisis

Parents need to help teachers end bad behaviour in class to tackle record levels of suspensions and exclusions

• 10,885 permanent exclusions in 2023/24, up 16 per cent on previous year
• 954,952 suspensions, up 21 per cent on previous year

Commenting on today’s school exclusions and suspension data – Academic Year 2023/24 – Beth Prescott, Education Lead at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), said:

“There is a crisis of bad behaviour disrupting classrooms. The latest government data reveals a shocking 21 per cent increase in suspensions and 16 per cent increase in permanent exclusions.

“Government and schools have an important role to play, but our research shows that parents also need to up their game and take responsibility for their children’s behaviour in class. There has been a fundamental breakdown in the school-parent social contract.

“Polling for the CSJ revealed nearly three in ten parents saying that the pandemic has shown that it is not essential for children to attend school. A recent survey of teachers found that 70 per cent had faced abusive language from parents directed at staff, with 82 per cent of primary school teachers and 89 per cent of secondary school teachers agreeing with the statement ‘parents have become far too disrespectful of teachers’.

“We are calling for an urgent review of behavioural standards, a national parental engagement strategy, and a new Right to Sport for all secondary-age pupils.”