"I get little support in dealing with my pupils' behaviour."

"A teacher finds herself in a tough school, where the children’s behaviour is unacceptable. She cannot get any support from her colleagues, who seem to be turning a blind eye to these problems. How can she convince the senior team to take her concerns seriously?"

*Obviously it is the senior management team who need a reality check here. Perhaps she needs to get one of the senior management team onside and start to convince that person first. Ideally the Governors should be made aware but she would be far from popular if she contacted them directly herself of course.

If she is in her first year of teaching she may have a mentor whom
she could speak with or to whom she could provide written feedback about her experiences. She also needs to approach other members of staff who feel disheartened with the students' behaviour and together they could make their feelings known, perhaps in a staff meeting.

At the same time she needs to at least set out her own limits and expectations to her students within her own classroom. It will be hard of course because it sounds as if in other classes they visit, the behavioural expectations are low.

The solution eventually is for a strong and committed Head Teacher to be put into the school who raises the standards and expectations and insists that all staff consistently follow the behaviour expectations of the school. She will feel safer in that sort of environment.

For now, as I say, she needs to find allies who feel as she does and act together to convince the management that changes need to be made. I am sure that the LEA would also be interested to know what is going on in their school!

By David Allaway (BehaviourOnline) BA, Cert Ed; Grad dip (Ed Couns)