Lessons in 'emotional intelligence' for unruly pupils

By Julian Whittle

Last updated 09:35, Friday, 17 October 2008

Cumbria's education chiefs have a plan to improve pupil behaviour, particularly in secondary schools.

Simon Leyton

Children will be coached to improve their “emotional intelligence” so they are less likely to turn violent.

The aim, outlined in a draft behaviour and attendance strategy, is to cut the number of pupils excluded from school.

Stephen Mason, of Cumbria County Council’s children’s services, outlined the strategy to a scrutiny panel this week.

He said: “We believe that the majority of behaviour is learnt.

“At the heart of the strategy is positive attitudes to learning and behaviour.

“It is equipping children to be emotionally intelligent if they have a problem, so they talk their way out of it rather than punch their way out.”

The council wants to create eight posts to support pupils at risk of exclusion.

Its strategy sets targets to reduce permanent and fixed-term exclusions, and so-called “persistent absence” where pupils play truant.

The aim is for 95 per cent of Cumbrian secondary schools to be above the national average for attendance.

But officials have been told to do more work before the strategy is approved.

Members of the children and young people’s scrutiny panel had doubts about the council’s policies and priorities.

Councillor Simon Leyton said the county’s three pupil-referral units, which work with disruptive pupils, were “clogged” with permanently-excluded children.

He said: “This has prevented them from working with schools on a larger number of pupils at an earlier stage of the symptoms of their problems showing.”

Police authority representative Lynda Shaw argued that more attention should be paid to primary school pupils.

“Behaviour is a learned response to a stimulus,” she said. “A lot of children learn that response when they are very, very young.

“They don’t suddenly become badly behaved in secondary school. It just becomes more of a problem when they’re bigger.”

Mick Farley, of Connexions Cumbria, said the school curriculum had to change to make it more “stimulating and exciting” for youngsters.

And Allan Buckley, representing Cumbria Primary Care Trust, felt all the emphasis was on disruptive pupils.

There were others who did not misbehave but had no interest in school and were getting little help.

He said: “There are children who don’t engage but aren’t disruptive. They come under the radar and get lost in the system. The consequences for them are very serious.”

Education chiefs say they are making progress in improving attendance. They targeted five secondary schools with poor records and were able to cut the number of pupils persistently truanting from 500 to 250.