Cosla report says schools without belt are no worse
- Teachers and pupils in schools that have abolished or reduced corporal punishment say standards of behaviour are no worse than before. Other conclusions in research undertaken for Cosla include: no school, having abolished the belt, has considered reintroducing corporal punishment. Teachers in abolitionist schools spoke of having to work harder but also of improved relations with pupils.
Change at assessment centre
- Orders to end strict disciplinary action against boys in a Glasgow assessment centre have followed allegations of ill-treatment and harsh living conditions. Staff at the Larchgrove Centre - which holds 70 boys aged 11-16, but sometimes holds children as young as eight - were instructed to stop using a solitary confinement room known as “the pokey”, and to abolish strip searches of boys after family visits.
Social work expert condemns misconceptions about family
- “I have long held the view that the British don’t really like children,” said Mrs Kay Carmichael, a leading Scottish social work expert, at the Supplementary Benefits Commission’s national conference in Glasgow. “We hit them in schools where we imprison them at an early age, we hit them in families and we murder them quite a lot. Social workers have a passion for removing children to institutions.”
The case for rudeness
- The head of an East Midlands comprehensive says he would have to spend pound;9.77 on second-class postage to reply to the 85 applicants who failed to get a scale I history post at his school. Mr David Maw, of Kingsthorpe Upper School in Northampton, calculated that “the polite and traditional practice” involved envelopes, paper and postal charges costing more than one-third of the pound;28 Northamptonshire heads get annually for each pupil.
TV programmes under fire
- Shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man are said to be having a detrimental effect on children. A survey by the Australian Council for Children’s Film and Television found that teachers were concerned at the impression superheroes made on pre-school children’s behaviour and imagination.