Strict behaviour policies and inclusion “dovetail perfectly”, the government’s attendance and behaviour ambassador has insisted, as he defended his record in an interview with Tes.

Tom Bennett said that schools involved in behaviour hubs - a model he led under the previous Conservative governments - are where children with special needs “flourish”.

Mr Bennett spoke to Tes exclusively after he was appointed as one of two DfE attendance and behaviour ambassadors, along with former pupil referral unit head Jayne Lowe.

Behaviour hubs are ‘the most inclusive environments’

His comments come as the Labour government pushes to make mainstream schools more inclusive for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

However, some within the SEND sector have expressed fears that Mr Bennett’s approach to behaviour could negatively impact those with additional needs.

Asked about concerns that strict behaviour policies and inclusion may not chime together, Mr Bennett said: “I think they dovetail perfectly.

“There is often a kind of misunderstanding of what we were doing about the hubs and what we intend to do in the future,” added Mr Bennett, who was DfE’s behaviour advisor from 2015-2025.

He said: “The hubs promoted environments which were safe, calm, predictable and secure, and also ones where people were treated with dignity. Those are the most inclusive environments.

”[Hub schools] are the types of schools where children with autism spectrum disorder and ADHD disproportionately flourish, as disadvantaged children need calm, safe, secure environments more than other children,” he added.

Hub evaluation coverage ‘unfortunate’

When asked about criticisms of the hub scheme, Mr Bennett said that the behaviour-hub model “transcends party politics” and “had a huge impact in the schools that took part”.

Schools “massively over-applied” to be a partner of a hub school, Mr Bennett said of the programme.

However, an official evaluation of the behaviour hubs programme found that, in schools with low levels of deprivation, pupils perceived behaviour to have worsened under the scheme.

Meanwhile, suspensions and permanent exclusions from school resulting from physical assaults on adults have surged, with suspensions and exclusions overall reaching a record high in the latest figures.

A Tes investigation today also reveals trusts are reporting a significant rise in violent incidents causing injuries to staff and students.

Responding to our findings before his latest appointment, Mr Bennett attributed this rise in violent incidents to the “desocialising” impact of the pandemic, increasing rates of poverty, and declining social infrastructure - along with better reporting by schools.

And, when interviewed this week, Bennett pushed back on what he called the “unfortunate” framing of the media coverage of the hubs evaluation.

“A more substantial factor for me was the fact that staff and leaders said they felt safer and better trained,” he said.

Behaviour and attendance ‘blend identically’

As well as advising on behaviour, Mr Bennett is now also tasked with overseeing attendance. He believes the two areas “blend identically” into one another.

He backed education secretary Bridget Phillipson’s emphasis on the role of families in improving attendance.

“Children don’t spring into existence when they walk into a school; they come from somewhere, and their homes and families have the biggest impact,” Mr Bennett said.

“There is often a danger of thinking that schools have the capacity to reinvent children by themselves,” he warned.

Teacher training and behaviour guidance needs revisiting

Beyond hubs, what does Mr Bennett want to do in his role?

He said that behaviour guidance first released in 2013 needs to be revisited to make sure it is “still fit for purpose”.

Pressed on which areas might need an update, Mr Bennett, who helped write the most recent version of the guidance, simply said it was “still in good shape”.

Further down the line, Mr Bennett also wants to revisit teacher training - and specifically the need for initial teacher-training providers to ensure teachers are introduced to the area of behaviour management.

“Now would be a good chance to check if that is happening and see which providers do it well,” Mr Bennett said.