Elton (1989)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Contents, Foreword, Membership, Summary
Recommendations
Chapter 1 The enquiry
Chapter 2 The nature of the problem
Chapter 3 Teachers
Chapter 4 Schools
Chapter 5 Parents
Chapter 6 Pupils
Chapter 7 Attendance
Chapter 8 Police
Chapter 9 Governors
Chapter 10 Local education authorities
Chapter 11 Government
Appendix A Written evidence received
Appendix B Witnesses
Appendix C Visits
Appendix D(i) Teachers and Discipline Part I
Appendix D(ii) Teachers and Discipline Part II
Appendix E Selected bibliography
Appendix F Behaviour policies

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1989
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Chapter 1 The Enquiry
[pages 54 - 56]

1 In November 1987 the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) wrote to the Prime Minister suggesting that a committee of enquiry should be set up to look at discipline in schools. The PAT drew attention to the results of a survey that it had carried out with the help of the Daily Express newspaper. The survey found that the great majority of those members who replied believed that indiscipline was on the increase, and about one in three reported that they had been attacked by a pupil at some time in their careers. Other press reports of violent incidents in schools helped to increase public concern about pupils' behaviour.

2 The establishment of the Enquiry into Discipline in Schools was announced by the Secretary of State for Education and Science in March 1988. The Secretary of State's announcement pointed out that education can take place only if there is good order in schools. It emphasised concerns about the behaviour of some pupils in some schools, and the need for society as a whole to support teachers in pushing for acceptable standards of behaviour.

Our enquiry, which covers schools in England and Wales, was given the following terms of reference:

'In view of public concern about violence and indiscipline in schools and the problems faced by the teaching profession today, to consider what action can be taken by central government, local authorities, voluntary bodies owning schools, governing bodies of schools, headteachers, teachers and parents to secure the orderly atmosphere necessary in schools for effective teaching and learning to take place.'

5 We also agreed not to assume from the outset of our enquiry that discipline problems were increasing or that schools were facing a major crisis with which they could not cope. The concerns expressed in press reports and the PAT survey were real and strong, but we knew that we would need to consider the widest possible range of evidence before we could come to any balanced conclusions on the matter.

6 We used a variety of methods to collect and sift evidence across a wide range of areas. We had 20 meetings of the full Committee, which formed the backbone of our work programme. These usually lasted a full day, though one residential meeting lasted for three days. At the meetings we discussed the overall direction of our work, the implications of the evidence which we had gathered, including evidence from witnesses invited to those meetings, and finally the contents of this report. We also had two half-day seminars to receive evidence from overseas.

7 We started by identifying four key questions. These formed the basis of all our enquiries. They featured in an advertisement published in May in the educational supplements of national newspapers inviting written contributions to the Enquiry. The questions were about:

7.1 definitions of good behaviour and discipline (and their opposites) in the school context;

7.2 the extent of any discipline problems in schools;

7.3 the principal causes of these problems; and

7.4 action which could be taken by relevant organisations and individuals to promote good behaviour in schools.

8 We sent a more detailed list of questions to all LEAs and all institutions providing teacher training in England and Wales. 68 LEAs and 59 teacher training institutions replied - a response rate in both cases of over 60%. Many other national organisations also supplied written evidence, either in response to our advertisement or to a specific invitation. In all, we received a total of 476 submissions from these other organisations and individuals, including many serving teachers. This makes a total of just over 600 written submissions. Details are given in Appendix A. We are most grateful to all those who contributed in this way.

9 We also invited a number of witnesses to our meetings. They included representatives of the seven major teacher unions in England and Wales, other national organisations and expert witnesses on various topics. Our discussions with them helped us to explore some of the more difficult issues raised in the written evidence. We were also able to learn at first-hand from their experiences. Once again, we are most grateful for all their help. Their names are listed in Appendix B.

10 Visits were an important part of our work programme. We were anxious to see for ourselves schools and other institutions in different regional and social settings. In particular, we hoped to draw lessons from any good practice we observed. We also wanted to talk to serving teachers, pupils and others at the 'chalk-face' about the issues at the heart of our enquiry. We therefore set up a varied programme of visits, particularly to schools in the kind of inner city areas where difficulties might be expected. Small groups of us visited a total of 25 schools, teacher training institutions and special units throughout England and Wales. Details are given in Appendix C. We should like to record our thanks for the cooperation, courtesy and frankness with which all of these institutions received our visits and enquiries.

11 Other useful evidence was gathered from abroad. Concern about discipline in schools is not unique to this country. We quickly recognised that there might be lessons for us in the experiences and the practices in education systems overseas. We divided into small groups for our three overseas visits to the Netherlands, Norway and the USA. In each of these countries, we were able to meet with senior educationalists and to visit schools. We also held two special seminars with expert witnesses from Japan and Australia. Details are included in Appendix B.

12 We also commissioned the largest structured survey concentrating on teachers' perceptions of the problem ever carried out in Britain. This is described in chapter two.

13 We were given a challenging timetable for our task. Our report, which covers a wide range of complex issues, was completed in just over 10 months.