Teachers have gone on strike in Lancashire after bad behaviour and violence from pupils. Staff at Darwen Vale High School in Blackburn said that they had not received enough backing from management. The school will close for 24 hours after members of the National Union of Teachers and Nasuwt voted in favour of a walkout. Some staff have been filmed on mobile phones and clips posted on Facebook, unions said.
Teachers have complained about being pushed, shoved and sworn at but said they hadn’t been backed up by the leadership on discipline issues.
There has also been problems of cyber bullying and pornography but when teachers confiscated pupils’ phones they have then been returned by management, leaving staff “totally undermined,” it is claimed.
The action came after Michael Gove announced a crackdown this week on ill discipline in schools. He said that much bad behaviour was going unnoticed because staff send the worst behaved home during inspections.
In its latest Ofsted inspection in June 2010, Darwen Vale was rated as a good school where pupils’ behaviour was also given a good rating. No one was available for comment from Darwen Borough Council.