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UK: Parents support searches at school

Josie Clarke

Edinburgh Evening News

Friday 10 Sep 2004

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PARENTS want radical action to stop drugs and weapons getting into schools,
according to a poll out today.

More than nine out of ten parents are in favour of random searches to catch
pupils committing the offences, according to a poll published in The Times
Educational Supplement.

Parents also favour a "zero tolerance" approach to problem pupils, with
eight out of ten supporting automatic expulsion for pupils who deal in
cannabis and more than seven out of ten (71 per cent) saying the same
punishment should apply to those caught with a knife.

The findings follow a call by Prime Minister Tony Blair this year for
headteachers to carry out random searches and drug tests. The poll of 1000
parents in England and Wales sought views on standards of behaviour and
discipline in state schools.

In other findings, more than a third of parents (35 per cent) say they have
a child who has been bullied at school.

More than half of parents (59 per cent) with children who have been bullied
say the school dealt with the problem effectively. Boys are slightly more
likely to have suffered from the problem than girls.

The Government has announced it wants schools to take a "zero tolerance"
attitude to bullying and is urging all headteachers to sign anti-bullying
charters. The poll found that parents of secondary school pupils believe
behaviour is the biggest problem facing schools.

Parents of primary school children believe that funding is the biggest
problem (39 per cent).

The poll also found that seven out of ten parents believe pupils who
assault a teacher should be permanently excluded.

The survey also showed that parents make a clear distinction between pupils
caught in possession of cannabis and those who sell it to others. Less than
half of parents believe possession should lead to permanent exclusion.

Overall, parents have positive views about standards of behaviour in their
own children's schools with 35 per cent believing it has improved over the
past five years against 30 per cent who think it has deteriorated.



 

 

 

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