Sending pupils out: some teacher testimony

One of the most common dilemmas facing the teachers interviewed (and this applied not just to trainees and NQTs), was what to do when they were not able to prevent one or more pupils from spoiling the working atmosphere in the classroom. In some cases the behaviour involved was extreme (see Chapter 7), and in a sense this made decision making easier, but more often there were difficult decisions to be made about whether a pupil had forfeited the right to stay in the classroom. These decisions were complicated by the fact that schools (and sometimes departments) had different policies for dealing with such difficulties, different ‘tolerance levels' for pupil disruption. The nature of the class and the ‘pupil culture' within the school (see page xx) can also influence the effectiveness of taking such action against pupils. In some schools, a group of pupils may tacitly or overtly support the pupil being sent out. In other circumstances, pupils may well be on the side of the teacher doing the sending out:

‘We are lucky here because generally the kids are glad to get rid of them… “Nice one, he's out of the room”, I can tell that they are pleased about it, that you've sorted it out, done something.'

(NQT)

This was not the only example of other pupils' attitudes influencing decision making about whether to send pupils out. In the following instance, the fact that other pupils were ‘onside', and not colluding with a difficult pupil led to a teacher deciding not to send the pupil out:

‘I couldn't claim that his behaviour had no effect on the quality of the lesson for the other pupils… but the lesson kept going, the pupils learned something, it wasn't perfect but nearly all the pupils were “onside”, they could see that I was doing my best, trying to be reasonable. They were tacitly on my side even if they couldn't do much to help.

(Four years in teaching, working in a difficult school)

Although to some extent it was often down to the individual teacher's judgement as to whether and in what circumstances to send pupils out, decision making was influenced by school and departmental policy and practice. In some schools, there was an understanding that if a pupil could not be prevented from interfering with the learning of others, even at quite a low level, they should not be allowed to say in the classroom. In others, teachers were encouraged to regard sending out as a last resort, and even then, to try to get pupils back into the classroom as quickly as possible, after a few minutes ‘cooling off' time and a warning about their behaviour.

In some cases, teachers' decisions were influenced by how efficiently school systems worked:

‘We' re not supposed to put kids out on the corridor. The system is to send them to the ‘Remove' room if they are misbehaving to the extent that they are spoiling the learning of others. Someone is supposed to come and get them and take them down. This sounds great but it can take 20 minutes for someone to arrive, and in the meantime you've got to just put up with the kid spoiling your lesson. Sometimes there's no one there or no one comes because whoever is on the Remove room is off or has forgotten. It's made me realise that I just have to get on with it myself. Perhaps it's good because it's made me really think hard about what I can do, how to react, it's made me more self-reliant, but I am jealous of fellow NQTs who've really got a close support network of people in the department.'

(NQT)

(One NQT talked wistfully of being on placement at a school where two burly non teaching staff came at almost instant notice and led troublemakers away to an exclusion room, but this level of service did not appear to be widely available).

It would be helpful for new teachers if there was a clear set of criteria for when to send pupils out, such as the principle outlined by one Head of Department:

‘If they are disrupting the learning of others… stopping pupils who would like to learn from doing so, and they don't stop after requests and warnings… they should go out.'

However, whilst this might be eminently practicable in some schools, in others it was not felt to be feasible:

‘There was a timeout room but it was for extreme behaviour… less extreme things you were supposed to just send them out for a few minutes to calm down, have a quiet word with them just outside so they weren't acting up in front of their friends. Everybody knew that if you sent out every kid who was messing about, the system would be overwhelmed. It was not ideal but you just had to manage things as best you could, in terms of damage limitation. What is the best I can do here given that the situation is dire?'

(Second in Department in a school in Special Measures)

These examples underline the importance of teachers having to be flexible, resilient and self-reliant. Part of learning to teach is about how to handle things when the situation is not perfect. Given the range of people and factors influencing the quality of life of the trainee or NQT, it would be surprising if all colleagues and all facets of a school were perfect. Several experienced mentors suggested that a degree of ‘ adaptability ', ‘ quickness to adjust, pick things up' was a helpful quality for new teachers as opposed to those who were ‘ waiting for the answer lady to come round' (Teacher Educator). In the words of another teacher educator:

‘It's about their intelligence in ascertaining what the boundaries of acceptable “normal” behaviour are. It's not just about your values and standards, but the school's, and these vary enormously. In some schools they run a very tight ship and you are expected to send kids out if there is the slightest interference with learning, in others you are expected to cope with quite a lot and keep them in (the classroom). It's the speed with which some trainees tune in to the norms and conventions which operate in particular school contexts. It's about how quick they are to pick things up, to learn and adapt.'

In addition to ‘health and safety' issues, and violent, aggressive, or threatening behaviour, one of the criteria for sending out which was mentioned by many experienced teachers was persistent and ‘targeted' disruption, in the sense of behaviour that had the deliberate intention of wrecking the lesson:

‘If it's calculated… if they are quite deliberately trying to sabotage the whole lesson and it's a sustained attack designed to stop learning taking place. Then you have to send them out.. You can put up with some incidents if it's spontaneous – some of our pupils are very volatile but they are just children, they do have emotions, some of them are genuinely very troubled and they do get upset sometimes. We're the adults, we should be able to understand that and if it's just a moment of silliness or lack of control and then they stop and settle down, that's usually OK.'

(Fourth year of teaching in a difficult school) 

‘Is it a one-off incident where you can say “never mind, see me at the end about it, or a sustained attack on the lesson, a deliberate challenge to your authority which is going to carry on until you do something about it? If it is the latter, you do perhaps move to thinking about getting them out of the lesson if you have tried warning, moving and so on.'

(Experienced Head of Department)

‘We have some kids here who find normal classroom behaviour very difficult. They do not have self-discipline, self-control, basic manners. But that is just how they are, they are not cynically trying to spoil your lesson in a premeditated way. You have to try and finesse them into being OK, settling them down, learning to get on with them, cajoling them into getting on with the work. Skilful handling can keep kids in the classroom. Some teachers kick out a lot more than others. Sometimes it's the right thing to do to send a kid out, but you can't just send dozens of kids out on a regular basis. Some corridors are almost like a refugee community during lessons because so many pupils have been sent out.'

(Head of Year in a difficult school)

‘Sometimes it is necessary, it's the right thing to do, not a sign of failure on your part, but unless it's a major atrocity which is ongoing, just for a few minutes, to calm things down, have a quiet word and try and get them back in and settled.'

(Head of Department in a difficult school)

‘It's like raising your voice, you get diminishing returns if you do it too much… plus if you've already sent one kid out, it doesn't work as well, they're beginning to get strength in numbers - they've got a friend to play with, talk to, discuss how to wind you up some more… you're building up a little insurgency out there.'

(Teacher Educator)

Almost without exception, the teachers and heads interviewed felt that there were times when sending pupils out was an appropriate course of action; as a safety valve, to allow for ‘cooling off', to assert the teacher's right to teach, and to protect the rights of pupils who wanted to learn.

Experienced teachers also had views about how to send pupils out. A commonly expressed view was that some trainees and NQTs were too indecisive, ‘ dithered', warned but did not then act, and often left it too long to send pupils out:

‘I had to be on the ball in terms of being clear about picking up the first one to go too far after a clear warning, then a particular person could be dealt with by the department, and the others would quieten down. If you don't pick things up early, and leave it until a few of them have gone beyond what's acceptable, it's much harder because you don't know where to start, it's too widespread, you are being arbitrary and unfair, you've lost it. I've learned to act earlier and more decisively, I don't let it get out of control before taking action.'

(NQT)

‘I've become more decisive about sending pupils out, I'm more clear in my own mind about when it's necessary, when it's the right thing to do. You tend to be a bit uncertain in your PGCE year. Give them a clear warning or warnings and then go ahead and do it and don't wait too long.'

(NQT)

‘What kids hate is when there's a lack of consistency, when punishments are arbitrary, when “it's not fair” and other pupils can see it's not fair.'

(Head Teacher)

‘Some are too timid to intervene. I sometimes ask, “why didn't you send him out of the classroom? And they say, “because you were here.”. They see it as losing face, a sign of weakness. They let things slide until lots of kids are messing about and then panic and send someone out without a warning, just pick on someone at random because they have become flustered under pressure.'

(Teacher Educator)

The majority of respondents advocated a ‘low key', understated tone and manner for asking pupils to go out of the room, rather than angry and declamatory words and gestures:

‘Don't do it as if it's a big deal… “Just wait outside for a minute and I'll come out in a minute when I've just set this task…” When they are out, mention the options… go back in, just get on with things quietly… that's it, all over, forgotten… just get on with it quietly.'

(Head of Department in a difficult school)

‘I try and do it in a low key way, not show down at the OK Corral… “Can you just wait outside for a minute and I'll pop out and have a word with you in a minute”. Perhaps open the door and then carry on giving some instructions to the rest of the class. And then quietly go up to them if they haven't already gone out and remind them that they've got to go out, I haven't forgotten.'

(Third year of teaching)

Another common problem with sending out pupils is that they often seek attention from outside the room; jumping up and down outside the window, pulling faces, tapping on the window, asking if they can come back in yet. ‘Tactical ignoring' was the most commonly recommended response to this:

‘Just send them out for 5 or 10 minutes, so they get bored and want to come back in. And if they are messing about outside, just ignore them, get on with teaching the class, they generally just subside after a few minutes and slump quietly.'

(NQT)

‘Some trainees send them out for too long, forget they are out there and then kids go wandering off. You've got to keep a bit of an eye out if you send them out but not let them know that. Try and be relaxed and calm with the rest of the class and then pop out nonchalantly to have a word with them.'

(Head of Department)

Whether sending out pupils ‘works', whether pupils behave when they are allowed back in, whether they agree to go out or refuse depends on what further steps are available to the teacher, the ‘tightness' of the school system for following things up, the degree to which the teacher is prepared to follow up incidents of disruption, and the extent to which parents will be supportive of the school. One interesting question is what happens to a pupil who has had to be sent out of a lesson and then continues to misbehave? Nothing? ‘Is that it?', or will ‘consequences' follow? And who will take the time and trouble to sort out the consequences; the teacher who has sent the pupil out, or ‘the system'? Heads and Heads of Department both suggested that the teacher who had done the sending out should try to take at least some responsibility for following things up.

‘Sending pupils out is a possible next step, if moving them within the classroom hasn't worked. Ideally, in a good school or departmental system, there will also be the option of further steps, like sending them to the time out room, or to sit in someone else's classroom. If bad behaviour is repeated in the next lesson, and the one after, something more serious needs to be done, and this may involve parents, year head and so on. But teachers need to be prepared to put in time and effort to following things up, keeping kids in, contacting parents and so on. They shouldn't just pass it on to someone else. It's what happens after the lesson that usually determines whether pupils' behaviour is sorted out.'

(Teacher Educator)

‘When you talk to them outside the class, when they are not in front of their friends, explain to them that this is getting serious, it is significant. They can either come back in and keep their head down until the end of the lesson, and that will be the end of it, or there will be serious consequences and their behaviour will be the subject of more serious deliberation.. this could be form teacher, year head, contacting parents. Explain the options to them clearly.'

(Head of Department)

What refinements might teachers consider making to their practice in the light of these comments? This might depend on the nature of their current practice in this area. They may already tend to send pupils out if anything, too precipitately, so the suggestion that some teachers wait too long before sending pupils out does not apply to them. But teachers can reflect about how their practice compares to that of other teachers within the same school, and whether they make any of the misjudgements mentioned above. They can experiment to see if adjustments to their usual way of doing things makes a difference, and they can ask other teachers (especially those whose levels on the 10 point scale tend to be high) how they handle the issue of sending pupils out.

From Haydn, T. (2007) Managing pupil behaviour, London, RoutledgeFalmer: 96-9.

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