How to present the violence in school ?

By Matt Dickinson, The Independent, 6 February 2010

Nearly half of new teachers have not had enough training to deal with violence in the classroom, a survey showed today.

Figures seen by the BBC also suggest two-thirds of newly qualified teachers have received no clear guidance on restraining violent students.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), which carried out the survey, has called for such training to be made compulsory.

According to the union, 49 per cent of newly-qualified teachers and probationers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland felt they had not had enough training to deal with challenging behaviour.

One in five said they had been provided with clear guidance on restraining violent pupils, with nearly 30 per cent saying the area had not yet been covered in training.

Sharon Liburd, from the ATL, told the BBC: "These violent confrontations can erupt very very quickly, they (teachers) need to be clear about what sort of steps they can take to try to stop the situation from escalating, if they have to physically intervene and how in fact they do that."

The ATL surveyed 1,001 of its members across the UK.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said new teachers were given support to ensure they had the skills they needed.

He said: "Good behaviour and an atmosphere of respect should be the norm in all schools.

"In his recent review, Sir Alan Steer said that behaviour standards have improved and are good in the majority of schools.

"We are determined to tackle poor behaviour and raise overall behaviour standards - that is why we have given schools clearer and stronger powers than ever before to ensure good school discipline."

The article chosen tackles the issue of the violence in school and the teachers'incompetence in this topic.

The subject is very interesting, unfortunately, the hang isn't so attractive; so the readers don't want to go on with the reading. If they continue, they will realize that this angle is not appropriate.

In addition to that, we note that the tone of the article is too much insipid, flat... and without real problematic. It seems to much superficial, in fact it develops a lot the details. That takes the readers off the reality. Moreover, it just supports on the percentage, that is own single argumentation.

As regards, the real problem in question, the author speaks about teachers without refering to the parents. In other words, he forgets -voluntarily- to talk about the education at home. This latter is the origin of the violence in children.

In brief, you must relativize these facts and use objectivity without dramatizing the situation.

To put in a nutshell, we remind you that violence in school stays an infrequent phenomenon.

Elodie H. et Margot S