On Monday we joined our colleagues at Parentline Plus for a fringe event on schools and student behaviour at the Conservative Party Conference. We asked those in attendance to join our coalition to improve behaviour in schools, and engage other politicians to join a broad coalition that includes teachers, parents, students and others to collaborate on solutions.

 We had standing room only at our event, where we showed the video (presented on this page) and offered results from our recent survey:

• 79 per cent of teachers said they 'felt unable to teach as effectively' due to poor behaviour.
• 81 per cent of teachers said they had experienced stress, anxiety or depression as a result of poor behaviour.
• 70 per cent of teachers have considered leaving the profession as a result of poor behaviour.
• 97 per cent of teachers said consistent discipline & motivation by pupils' parents was important or essential.
  

Teacher Support Network and Parentline Plus conducted a fringe meeting at conservative party conference on student discipline. You can see all our photos from the event at Flickr.

Teachers have responded overwhelmingly in favour of actions that would help schools and students' families to work more closely together. They've told us it is essential to regularly review school behaviour policy involving all staff, parents, pupils. Teacher Support Network Chief Executive Julian Stanley said: "these policies are not difficult to introduce and the costs would be negligible." He also said that parents and teachers need to build a coalition to create safe, respectful school communities

Our fringe event was cohosted by Parentline Plus, which reported that 27 per cent of calls to its own helpline in last two years were from parents seeking advice on a child's behaviour.

There are a number of reasons behind a parent's refusal to engage with their child's school. Some of the issues include: poor experience of school themselves, feeling out of place or insecure in a school environment. Poor or inconsistent communication between school and home can lead to parents mistrusting teachers.

Issues for most parents with regards to behaviour is that they often have no idea what to do, what to try next and how to help their child, the charity reported. Parentline Plus' own experience also indicated that there is a clear body of evidence that shows that excluding a child from school is not an easy answer for society.

"Tackling poor behaviour is therefore a key priority," Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, said. "Until we tackle this problem, it will be virtually impossible for any government to raise academic standards in our schools. Government has a responsibility to ensure high standards."

Gibb said "Teachers must be able to take action immediately if they wish to to tackle poor behaviour without having to go through statutory bureaucratic hurdles. We’re working to ensure that teachers are protected – something Julian mentioned – from the professional and social humiliation of false allegations made against them." You can see more about what Gibb had to say here.

More on this topic

• Your feedback: You can talk about this issue here, in our forum on student behaviour.
  
• Flickr Photos from the event.
• More comments by Nick Gibb.
• Our recent survey of teachers on student behaviour.