I don’t often have much time for the opinions of Ofsted. When you’ve seen as much bad behaviour in schools as I have and little being done about it – and then I’m told that Ofsted have been in and said everything’s fine!!

Children not being able to read confidently, not able do the work because it’s not differentiated to suit their ability level – if they could read this wouldn’t be a problem … discipline problems and bad behaviour not being addressed, head teachers insisting on following the latest government initiative without thinking of the impact on staff and children (for it to be dropped a few months later). I could go on but I’ll spare you my ranting for now…..

In a recent article it has been reported that Ofsted have said a primary school should have a blitz on swearing in order to improve behaviour- why does any school need to be told that!!!?? For heaven’s sake this is a primary school – little children…. Anyway, Ofsted added to their innovative idea by saying that strict discipline is essential – better late than never, I suppose.

I can see a problem looming though… What’s that? Well, very few people these days (in or out of school) seem to be able to discipline children effectively. So many adults have been conned into believing that discpline is wrong, damaging and detrimental to developing children.

This of course is totally untrue ….. children desperately need discipline (training?) so they can mature with confidence, understanding the rules of society and able to have the self confidence to manage in all situations. With effective discipline they understand the workings of their world. They haven’t the emotional maturity to deal with all the control that adults allow them to have – it’s dangerous for them – and the evidence for that is the appalling behaviour that is so prevalent today in schools.

One of the children in my class is ready to move back into mainstream school. He’s told me he doesn’t want to go! Where the regime has very high standards of behaviour and work is where he wants to stay. A year ago his behaviour was so out of control in school and home that he was nearly permanently excluded from school. He’s done so well. His mum can’t believe the changes in him and says she’s got a new son… how great is that?

there is an additional problem though. Many adults recognise that discipline needs to improve but they have lost the knowledge and skills to do the job that needs to be done. Many think it’s about yelling and shouting. No it’s not – it’s about using effective behaviour management strategies consistently and confidently.

I teach many people how to discipline effectively and any adult, teacher or parent, can learn the skill of managing children’s behaviour by using easy to follow strategies consistently. Behaviour Bible teaches you how to enable children to use good manners, become hard working and confident to recognise adult authority.

Liz Marsden’s highly recommended book Behaviour Bible is full of essential information to help you confidently manage children’s behaviour in school. Liz is highly experienced in managing children’s extremely violent and aggressive behaviour and uses her skills daily in her classroom and schoolsand also trains teachers, students and parents. Read about her daily classroom experiences.

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