Teacher training for tackling unruly pupils
By Camilla Turner
EDUCATION EDITOR
TEACHERS will be given training to
make them tougher with unruly chil-
dren as part of a government drive to
restore discipline to the classroom.
Gavin Williamson, the Education
Secretary, is to launch a review into
teacher training, focusing on imple-
menting stricter behaviour strategies.
“Persistent disruptive behaviour”
accounts for the highest proportion of
pupil expulsions, according the latest
official figures. This was cited as the
cause for 34 per cent of all permanent
exclusions last year, up from 29.6 per
cent a decade ago.
It is also the most common reason
given for suspensions, accounting for
30 per cent last year, up from 23.3 per
cent in 2008-9.
Writing in today’s Daily Telegraph,
Mr Williamson said: “Top of my list will
be to give teachers the support they
need to tackle poor behaviour.
“This can lead to bullying, as well as
disruption in classes, preventing teach-
ers from doing their essential jobs and
preventing pupils from learning. All
schools should provide a safe learning
environment, and everyone in themshould be able to go about their busi-
ness without fear of intimidation by a
small minority of disruptive pupils.”
Under Ofsted’s new inspection re-
gime, which comes into force next
month, schools will be marked down if
pupils misbehave and are discourteous
to each other.
The revamped framework includes
“behaviour and attitudes” as a
standalone category for the first time.
The move follows research by Ofsted
that revealed a rise in “low level” dis-
ruption such as children playing on
their mobile phones and other elec-
tronic devices in the classroom. SeanHarford, Ofsted’s national director for
education, said earlier this year that the
new category was bought in to recog-
nise that low-level disruption is on the
rise in classrooms, adding: “If every
child behaved at school, the standards
would rocket up.”
A task force will be set up to ensure
that schools with the most effective
discipline regimes can teach others
how to overhaul their systems.
Tom Bennett, who will lead the task
force, has previously blamed progres-
sive teaching methods for fuelling the
rise in poor behaviour. He said progres-
sivism, the dominant ideology in edu-cation which became popular in the
Sixties and Seventies, had led to low-
level disruption going unchallenged.
Mr Williamson’s intervention comes
as thousands of students pick up their
GCSE results today. They are the first
group to take the reformed courses in
virtually all subjects.
The new GCSEs were created by Mi-
chael Gove, the former education sec-
retary, as part an attempt to inject
rigour into the qualifications and bring
the UK in line with top-performing
countries in the Far East.Gavin Williamson: Page 16Ryanair pilot strike
given the green light
By Lizzie RobertsRYANAIR pilots in the UK will strike
over the bank holiday weekend, after
the High Court stopped the airline
from halting the planned action.
The strike will be for 24 hours from
midnight tonight, with a second strike
from Sept 2-4.
An attempt to block similar action by
180 Ireland-based pilots over the week-
end was granted by the court.
Ryanair has said it cannot rule out
delays or changes to flights, but expect
to operate a full schedule. The disrup-
tion comes on one of the busiest travel
weekends of the year. The airline flies
from 21 airports in the UK, so the strike
could affect millions of passengers.
The British Airline Pilots’ Associa-
tion (Balpa), which represents the UK
pilots, said the airline was “foolish” to
bring the action to the High Court and
has offered a framework to allow for
“constructive negotiations”.
Balpa said the issues at stake were:
pensions, loss of licence insurance, ma-
ternity benefits, allowances, and ef-
forts to “harmonise pay across the UK”.
Brian Strutton, Balpa general secre-tary, said the airline should have
brought the issue to “the negotiating
room” instead of the High Court.
“We offered to meet Ryanair man-
agement at Acas to negotiate a resolu-
tion, but instead they attempted a legal
bludgeon. That has backfired. We want
to settle the dispute and bring about a
change in Ryanair for the better.”
Mr Strutton added if Ryanair took up
the offer of mediation the strike would
be called off.
Ryanair has called the pay demands
“unreasonable”, after captains asked
for their pay to be doubled from
£170,000 to £375,700.
Fewer than 30 per cent of its UK-
based pilots were in the strike, the air-
line added. Other pilots were
volunteering, so all passengers travel-
ling today and tomorrow could expect
to take flights as normal.
“British pilots earning six-figure an-
nual salaries should not be threatening
the holiday flights of thousands of Brit-
ish passengers and their families (very
few of whom earn over £170,000),” Ry-
anair said in a statement.Business: Page 31Army relies on under-18s to
provide 30pc of its recruits
By Jamie JohnsonTHE Army has been accused of “leaning
on” under-18s in order to plug recruit-
ment gaps, with 16- and 17-year-olds ac-
counting for nearly 30 per cent of those
enlisted last year.
Data compiled by the Child Rights In-
ternational Network (CRIN) shows that
the Army recruited 1,000 16-year-olds
and 820 17-year-olds last year, with the
young recruits more likely to come from
poorer areas.
The UK is the only country in Europe
that routinely recruits people aged un-
der 18, and Charlotte Cooper, campaigns
coordinator with CRIN, told The Guard-
ian: “The Army is leaning on teenagers
from the most deprived backgrounds to
fix its recruitment crisis, using them to
fill the riskiest roles because it can’t per-
suade enough adults to enlist.”
According to figures compiled by Ms
Cooper and rounded to the nearest five,
55 teenagers aged 16 and 17 from Black-
pool South enlisted between April 2013
and April 2018, while 50 came fromKingston upon Hull East. Children as
young as 15 years and seven months can
start their applications to become a sol-
dier, but cannot join until they are 16.
Soldiers cannot be deployed on oper-
ations outside the UK until they are 18,
and anyone under that age needs writ-
ten parental consent to be able to enlist.
Government data released earlier this
month revealed that the strength of the
military fell for the ninth year in a row.
The 74,400 regular fully-trained troops
is over 7,000 short of the target figure of
82,000, a deficit of over 9 per cent.
A recent controversial Army advertis-
ing series appeared to resonate with tar-
get audiences, despite branding young
people as “snowflakes”, “phone zom-
bies”, “binge gamers” and “selfie ad-
dicts”.
An MoD spokesman said: “We are
proud of the opportunities serving in
the Armed Forces affords young peo-
ple, from basic literacy education and
support for postgraduate degrees, to
high-quality accredited training and
unique employment prospects.”News
Two Britons holidaying at same Bulgarian hotel killed by Legionnaires’ disease
By Greg Wilford
TWO British holidaymakers have died
from Legionnaires’ disease after stay-
ing at a Bulgarian hotel promoted by
tour operator Jet2.
Brian Taylor, 75, and John Cowan,
43, were diagnosed with the severe
form of pneumonia shortly after sepa-
rate visits to the Hotel Kalofer in Sunny
Beach earlier this year. Investigations
were launched by Jet2 and lawyers act-
ing for the victims’ families after the
virus killed both men within weeks of
their return to the UK.
Jet2 has transferred all customers
from the hotel as a “precautionary
measure”. Mr Taylor, from Hudders-field, was admitted to hospital with flu-
like symptoms days after he returned
on June 17. He died in hospital a month
later. Martin Farrell, Mr Taylor’s step-
son, said: “It was awful to see him like
that in the intensive care. It was a com-
plete shock to us all.”
Mr Cowan, from Lanarkshire, was
admitted to hospital in Clydebank afterfalling ill while holidaying from June 4
to 11. His condition deteriorated rap-
idly, and his family decided to switch
off his life support after he suffered
catastrophic brain damage on June 19.
The cause of death was given as sep-
tic shock and legionella pneumonia.
His younger brother, Barry, 41, said:
“We just want answers – to know whythis happened.” Jet2 said: “Two inde-
pendent specialists were instructed to
take samples from the hotel and a UKAS
accredited laboratory conducted test-
ing of the water samples for any con-
tamination. The results of all their tests
were negative. We will continue to as-
sist the local authorities in their inves-
tigations as required.”PAGirl power The
Sugar Army, which
is made up of
dancers aged 14 to
18 from the
Leith-based hip-
hop collective
House of Jack,
perform extracts
from Hard to Be
Soft: A Belfast
Prayer at The
Lyceum Theatre
during the
Edinburgh
International
Festival. The work
has been put
together by
choreographer
Oona Doherty and
“looks behind the
masks of violence
and machismo to
the inner lives of
Belfast hard men
and strong
women”. House of
Jack was formed by
dancer and
choreographer
Ashley Jack in
2010.is a member of the
Independent
Press Standards
Organisation (IPSO) and we subscribe
to its Editors’ Code of Practice. If you
have a complaint about editorial
content, please visit http://www.telegraph.
co.uk/editorialcomplaints or write to
‘Editorial Complaints’ at our postal
address (see below). If you are not
satisfied with our response, you may
appeal to IPSO at http://www.ipso.co.uk.The Daily Telegraph, 111 Buckingham
Palace Road, London, SW1W 0DTBadgers vaccinated for
TB may be culled anywayThe culling of badgers to prevent the
spread of TB could be extended into
areas where the Government has been
funding vaccinations of the animals,
wildlife campaigners have warned.
Cattle can catch the disease from
badgers, and there are culls in 32 areas
across 10 counties.
But The Wildlife Trusts has warned
that some of the new areas being
considered for culls already had
vaccination schemes. In Derbyshire,
the trust has been running the UK’s
largest vaccination programme, with
100 volunteers and £280,000 of
government funding.NEWS BULLETIN
Striptease artist is not
a job option any moreThe Department for Work and
Pensions has removed an online tool
for job seekers from its website after it
listed “striptease artist” as a possible
future career for universal credit
claimants, it has emerged.
The tool, “Work you could do”, is
designed to help claimants into the job
market. But due to an oversight in the
way that the web page was
constructed, the department
accidentally listed “striptease artist” as
a possible job for unemployed people
to apply for. The website described the
role as an employee who “dances in
adult entertainment establishments”.Leave older presenters
alone, says C4 News boss
TV bosses must resist ditching “pale,
male and stale” presenters, the head of
Channel 4 News has said as she
praised the work of older reporters
such as John Ware on the BBC’s
Panorama.
Dorothy Byrne gave a withering
assessment of British television at the
Edinburgh TV Festival in her keynote
MacTaggart lecture last night.
She no longer saw “big ideas” from
UK broadcasters and lamented the
lack of progress in ethnic diversity on
screen.
Ms Byrne also said she had been
sexually assaulted while at Granada.Police arrest man over
murder of Libby, 21
A man was arrested yesterday on
suspicion of the murder of 21-year-old
Libby Squire in Hull.
The 25-year-old was being
questioned last night by detectives.
Ms Squire went missing on Feb 1
after a night out with friends. Her
body was recovered from the Humber
Estuary on March 20.
The second-year philosophy and
religion Hull University student, who
was originally from High Wycombe,
Bucks, had been put in a taxi by her
friends after she was turned away from
the city’s Welly club for being too
drunk late on Jan 31.
Police believe CCTV captured the
moment she got into a car at 12.09am.Whaley Bridge dam
repair ‘will cost millions’
Work on the damaged Whaley Bridge
dam will take years and cost
“thousands of millions” to complete.
More than 1,500 people were
evacuated from the Derbyshire town
on Aug 1 due to fears that the dam wall
at the Toddbrook Reservoir would
collapse after heavy rain.
Rob Jowitt, project manager, said: “I
wouldn’t like to speculate on the scale
of the rebuild and repair, but it’s going
to be major and potentially two to
three years worth of work.
“The scale of the cost could vary
massively... It will certainly be in the
millions – I’m not sure whether it’ll be
in the tens, hundreds or thousands of
millions.”Subscribe today
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