Yes, consult pupils - but not on peripheral issues such as uniform. Young people ought to be consulted about the very core of their education - that is, what knowledge they wish to make theirs. Their complaints have always been about the boring, empty things they are forced to learn. Their indiscipline is a bid to derive some fun out of a dire situation and stems from not having a clear run at what they are itching to learn.

Consultation would give them a stake in what they go to school for. With this, they wouldn’t wish to misbehave. It is the incentive that is lacking in our system.

A J Marsden, Retired secondary teacher, Bury.