- guardian.co.uk, Sunday March 24 2002 11.16 GMT
In a deliberate and controversial move to focus the raging debate on school indiscipline on parents rather than children and teachers, Estelle Morris, the Education Secretary, will say that 'feckless' parents are undermining the good work of schools. In a speech to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers on Wednesday, she will say it is time to redefine the debate on crumbling school discipline.
Although she will say that children themselves have to learn to behave, she will insist that one of the biggest problems is violent parents who march to the school and are verbally and physically abusive.
'How can we expect pupils to respect teachers if their parents don't?' she will say. 'Parents must set the right example, and most do. But there is a hardcore of feckless parents who have a corrosive effect on the rest. There is a cycle of disrespect starting in school and lasting throughout these children's lives.
'If teachers think their reward for tackling bad behaviour in class is abuse from a parent then many will be fearful of taking any action at all. These abusive parents undermine our mission to drive bad behaviour out of schools.'
Morris will demand that councils make wider use of parenting orders, introduced by the Government in 2000. Violent parents can be ordered to attend counselling and anger management classes or face a court appearance and a £1,000 fine.
She will also announce a discipline 'summit' to bring together teaching unions, parent groups and Government Ministers to tackle the problem. Parents who have been involved in attacks on teachers will be asked how they reformed their behaviour.
Officials said they were unhappy with the 'patchy' use of the parenting orders. An Observer survey of London local education authorities revealed that some councils, such as Islington, had not used any, despite high levels of poor discipline in schools.
Last week Islington Green school was at the centre of attention after it was revealed that a teacher miscarried following an attack by a pupil.
Attacks by parents on teachers is a growing problem across the country. A survey in November revealed that many schools report weekly incidents of parents verbally and physically abusing teaching staff. Nine out of 10 teachers surveyed said that it was harder to control parents rather than children.
In one case a headteacher was held hostage by angry parents after she sent their daughter home from a school in Herefordshire for wearing a nose ring. The parents were later sentenced to nine months in prison.
In another case a teacher suffered a mental breakdown after being targeted by parents at a school.
Many teachers said parents had an inflated view of their child's academic abilities and thought that the school was persecuting their children.
Where parents failed to set a good example to their children, there was more truancy and street crime as children roamed the streets unsupervised.
Teaching unions said that they fully supported the Education Secretary's move. Nigel de Gruchy, head of the National Association of Schoolmasters/ Union of Women Teachers, said that Morris's speech bought a level of sanity to the debate.
But the Minister's attack brought an angry reaction from parents groups and opposition parties. 'It is easy for politicians and unions to denigrate these parents because they are not a powerful lobbying group,' said Margaret McGowan, a spokeswoman for the Advisory Centre for Education. 'Despite its early commitment to social inclusion, the Government is happy to use parents and pupils as a bargaining chip with those heads and teachers who believe the removal of disruptive children is the answer to the problems of discipline.'
Phil Willis, Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said: 'What this fails to recognise is that a significant number of parents failing to control their children are already on benefits, and fining them will make no difference to the issue of discipline.
'Sadly, too many children face a conveyor belt of temporary teachers which gives them an increasing sense of isolation and rejection.'
