The leader of one of Britain’s largest teaching unions says the Department for Education is to blame for the controversial approach to behaviour management allegedly used by two academy trusts, known as “flattening the grass”. 

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said the DfE now had to accept that it had given schools too many freedoms and flexibilities to the point that it now has “no idea what is going on in classrooms”.

As reported in Tes, the “flattening the grass” approach involves aggressively shouting at pupils as part of a “ritual humiliation” and “public shaming” even for just minor transgressions.

It is allegedly being used at schools in the Outwood Grange Academies Trust, where teachers have described it as “frightening to watch” and “overkill”. 

How story broke: Outwood Grange uses crisis managers to explain ‘flattening the grass’  

Insiders’ accounts: ‘I witnessed a child getting screamed at for coughing’

Read: How Outwood Grange ‘flattened’ school leaders

Delta Academies Trust has also been accused of using the approach, with a former teacher saying that “shaming children” felt like being a prison warden. 

‘Flattening the grass’ allegations

Ms Keates told Tes: “When has humiliating children been the way to get good discipline?

“Ministers have got to hold their hands up to the fact that they have now got a system where, in any day, in any place in the country, they have no idea what is the latest craze or fad or scheme or strategy that is being inflicted on either pupils or teachers.”

She added:  “The government has given freedom and flexibility to schools and now it doesn’t know what is going on in classrooms.

“If extremely dubious strategies like this are being introduced, it could be very damaging to children. The government has got to start reflecting on whether things have gone too far in terms of freedoms and flexibilities.”

An Outwood Grange spokesperson said Ms Keates’ comments were disappointing and that the trust met regularly with the NASUWT, which had not expressed concerns.

The spokesperson said: “It is obviously disappointing that Ms Keates feels able to criticise and denigrate the many hard-working NASUWT colleagues we have employed across our trust, based purely on anonymous claims and social media gossip.

“We have shown that our schools are safe and happy places, with Ofsted praising the care and support of our staff time after time.”

A spokesman for Delta said a “Care, Support, Guidance and Behaviour Policy” had been introduced following an Ofsted inspection which rated a school as “inadequate”.

He said: “The aim of the policy is to ensure that behaviours are dealt with reasonably, proportionately and fairly, with the ultimate goal of empowering young people to make positive choice

He added: “We have received positive feedback from staff, union representatives, students and parents about the impact of the policy and the changes this has brought to the learning environment in schools.”

The DfE has also been contacted for comment.