Julian Stanley wonders if teachers are sometimes subject to a pack mentality in the classroom.

I recently watched one of the experiments in psychological illusionist's Derren Brown's new series for Channel 4. In 'The Gameshow' a masked audience are asked to make a series of decisions about what should happen to an unknowing contestant. These decisions lead to a positive or negative outcome and become increasingly more sinister as the shows goes on. The show's aim is to explore whether being in a group affects a person's sense of right or wrong.

The audience wear masks in the show to encourage what psychologists call deindividuation, allowing individuals in the crowd to feel anonymous, which it is believed leads to a decrease in responsibility and loss of inhibitions.

Each time the audience are faced with a positive or a negative option, they opt for the increasingly sinister choice for the contestant, who experiences everything from false allegations to a kidnapping! It is only when the contestant is run over by a car, in a pre-arranged stunt, that the visibly shocked audience members begin to remove their masks and accept responsibility for the pack's behaviour.

Derren Brown's social experiment is not a new idea. According to the Channel 4 website, in his 1896 book 'The Crowd: A study of the Popular Mind' Gustave le Bon argued that "the behaviour of the crowd did not reflect the characters of the individuals within it". There have been many similar experiments over the years, perhaps most famously the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971, where students were asked to play either prisoners or prison guards. The role play became so out of control and so real that the experiment was forced to be cancelled early.

Even Vivienne Franzmann's award winning play 'Mogadishu', which Teacher Support Network supported earlier in the year, details brilliantly how one student's actions can impact on the behaviour of a much larger group as well as their teacher.

'The Gameshow' raised some interesting questions, but perhaps most importantly for me, it made me think about whether pack mentality impacts on the behaviour of large groups of pupils, especially in situations where they congregate regularly: playground, social areas, corridors and even the classroom. After all, the layout of a building or a classroom and class sizes are all documented as having a part to play in the behaviour of pupils.

In one recent teacher forum, I found teachers discussing their experiences.

"The whole class turned against me today and developed a pack mentality, it was scary and just awful," said one teacher. "I experienced that at my last school," said another. "I had similar last year as well," added a third.

They describe how their respective classes worked together to intimidate and threaten their teacher. In each case, it is only when another teacher comes in and reinforces the authority that the situation is resolved.

Thankfully, from the few number of responses that the posts elicited, it would seem that these kinds of incidents are few and far between, but what can teachers do to prepare themselves and indeed protect themselves from the pack mentality, should the need arise?

Pupils need to know that their actions will have serious consequences and teachers need to know that they are supported through the use of effective sanctions. To this end schools need robust behaviour policies and strong leadership with clear rules and expectations from staff and pupils, with a zero tolerance approach to physical and verbal assaults on teachers.

It is also vital that parents and teachers work together to create safe, respectful school communities.

Teachers also need to be trained to use the powers they have at their disposal. In our Behaviour Survey last year, 63 per cent of teachers responding said they had not received behaviour management training or professional development in pupil behaviour during the last two years. 86 per cent said additional training for teachers on challenging behaviour and using restraint powers was important or essential.

Only when teachers are fully supported can effective action be taken to instil discipline in the classroom, and it is only then that the potentially negative impact of "pack behaviour" can be mitigated, so that teachers can be in full control.