Punishing poor behaviour What the law allows:

15. Teachers can discipline pupils (1) ____________ conduct falls below standard.
16. To be (2) ____________ (law), the punishment (including detentions) must satisfy the following conditions:
Corporal punishment is illegal (3) on / under / in all circumstances.
A clear school behaviour policy, (4) ____________ (consistence) and (5) ____________ (fairness) applied,
underpins effective education. School staff, pupils and parents should all be clear of the high standards of behaviour
expected of all pupils at all times.
Good schools encourage good behaviour (6) ____________ a mixture of high expectations, clear policy and an
ethos which fosters discipline and mutual respect between pupils, and between staff and pupils.
Schools should have in place a range of options and rewards to reinforce and praise good behaviour, and clear
sanctions for (7) ____________ who do not comply with the schools behaviour policy. These will be (8)
____________ (proportion) and (9) ____________ (fairness) responses that may vary according to the age of the
pupils, and any other special circumstances that affect the pupil. If school budget (10) ____________ (allow),
teachers and head teachers could resort to using a variety of material rewards and symbolic rewards only to those
students who have proved to overcome a specific problem in which bad behaviour occurred consistently and stopped
as a result of monitoring and liaison between school and family. In other words, these rewards must always be
discussed with the family, psychologists and pedagogists part of the school staff who should regulate according to
norm the use of (11) ____________ . It has long been established that rewards are more effective than punishment in
motivating pupils. (12) ____________ , the use of these rewards must insistently be analysed within the corpus of
specialists and pedagogists inside school in order not to create a sense of unfairness among students.
When poor behaviour (13) ____________ (identify) , sanctions should be implemented consistently and fairly in
line with the behaviour policy. Good schools will have a range of disciplinary measures clearly communicated to
school staff, pupils and parents. These can include: a verbal reprimand, extra work or repeating (14) ____________
(satisfaction) work until it meets the required standard, the setting of written tasks as punishments, such as writing
lines or an essay, loss of privileges for instance the loss of a prized responsibility or not being able to participate in
a non-uniform day (sometimes referred to as mufti days), missing break time, detention including during lunch-
time, after school and at weekends, school based community service or imposition of a task such as picking up
litter or weeding school grounds; tidying a classroom; helping clear up the dining hall after meal times; or removing
graffiti, regular reporting including early morning reporting; scheduled uniform and other behaviour checks; or
being placed on report for behaviour monitoring.
In more extreme cases schools may use temporary or permanent exclusion.
Staff should also consider when it might be more appropriate, rather than impose a sanction, to encourage pupils to
reflect on the (15) ____________ (harm) effects of their misbehaviour.
Badly-behaved students who within a monitoring program as described above and under surveillance and analysis
on the part of the family and professional staff aim at improving their behaviour by showing deep change and
progress must be praised in order to foster the process. In this sense, badly-behaved students must be praised five
times as often as they are punished or criticised. This by no means signifies that these students should not be
punished. However, if actions go along as planned by the monitors and these specific cases improve, praise should
be used as a tool to empower the students in their new and fixed behaviour. If again school staff under the premise of
the head teacher decided to offer certain prizes or privileges for that it should always be discussed with the rest of
the subordinate staff. No decision as such can be taken in a non-democratic way.
It is always important to praise and acknowledge good behaviour as the norm. By praising and rewarding positive
behaviour, others will be encouraged to act similarly.