New inquiry announced: Behaviour and Discipline in Schools

The Education Committee is announcing an inquiry into behaviour and discipline in schools.

Written submissions are invited, addressing the following points:

• How to support and reinforce positive behaviour in schools;
  
• The nature and level of challenging behaviour by pupils in schools, and the impact upon schools and their staff;
  
• Approaches taken by schools and local authorities to address challenging behaviour, including fixed-term and permanent exclusions;
  
• Ways of engaging parents and carers in managing their children’s challenging behaviour;
  
• How special educational needs can best be recognised in schools’ policies on behaviour and discipline;
  
• The efficacy of alternative provision for pupils excluded from school because of their behaviour;
  
• Links between attendance and behaviour in schools;
  
• The Government’s proposals regarding teachers’ powers to search pupils, removal of the requirement for written notice of detentions outside school hours, and the extent of teachers’ disciplinary powers, as announced by the Department on 7 July.

The Committee asks for written submissions in accordance with the guidelines below by noon on Wednesday 29 September 2010.

Further information:

A copy of the submission should be sent by e-mail to educom@parliament.uk and marked “Behaviour inquiry”. The Committee’s strong preference is for submissions in electronic form, although hard copy originals will be accepted and should be sent to Kathryn Smith, Committee Assistant, at:

Education Select Committee,
House of Commons,
7 Millbank,
London, SW1P 3JA

Each submission should:

• be no more than 3,000 words in length;

• have numbered paragraphs; and

• (if in electronic form) be in Word format or a rich text format with as little use of colour or logos as possible.

For Data Protection purposes, it would be helpful if individuals submitting written evidence send their contact details separately in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please supply a postal address so that a copy of the Committee’s report can be sent to you upon publication.

A guide for written submissions to Select Committees may be found on the parliamentary website at: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/witnessguide.pdf

Please also note that:

• Memoranda submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organization submitting it is specifically authorised.

• Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, although not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

• The Committee does not normally investigate individual cases.