Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle poor pupil behaviour.

Pupil behaviour is a priority for the government. All schools should be calm, safe and supportive environments where all pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.

The department has an ambitious programme of work on improving behaviour in schools which aims to provide clarity and support for school leaders and staff. This includes the recently updated suite of guidance: ‘Behaviour in Schools’, ‘Suspension and Permanent Exclusion’, and ‘Searching, Screening and Confiscation’. These are practical tools to help schools create environments which young people want to attend.

New non-statutory guidance will also provide advice to head teachers on how to develop a policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones throughout the school day, to ensure an environment that is conducive to teaching and learning.

The National Professional Qualification (NPQ) in Leading Behaviour and Culture is relevant for teachers, leaders and non-teaching staff who want to develop their understanding of contemporary practice and research around promoting and supporting positive behaviour. £184 million has been invested into providing fully funded NPQs for teaching staff across the country to deliver 150,000 NPQs up until the 2023/24 academic year.

The department is also investing £10 million through the Behaviour Hubs programme to support schools. 49 lead schools and 10 lead multi-academy trusts work with schools that want and need to turn around their behaviour, alongside a central offer of support and taskforce of advisers. The programme will support up to 700 partner schools during the three years it is scheduled to run.

The National Behaviour Survey runs termly to track experiences and perceptions of pupil behaviour in schools. The most recent data available is for the 2021/22 academic year, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-behaviour-survey-reports.