MP Graham Stuart Wants More Powers For Teachers

Teachers should be given more powers to tackle school bullying, says MP Graham Stuart

Despite a new survey showing half of all 14-year-old children have been bullied there was not a single pupil excluded from school in the Beverley and Holderness constituency, revealed MP Graham Stuart.

Official Government figures show just 90 school pupils across the country were expelled last year for school bullying. In fact across the whole of the East Riding there was not a single exclusion for bullying.

In more than two-thirds of local authorities across England, not a single child was expelled for bullying. In the East Riding, 30 pupils were suspended from state schools – meaning these disruptive students returned to the school where they could cause misery for their classmates.

Since 1997, Government rules have deliberately made it more difficult for schools to expel pupils, undermining the authority of head teachers and meaning bullies end up back at the same school as their victims.

Graham said: “Bullying makes far too many children’s lives a misery. But the Government’s own figures show that in the vast majority of cases bullies are returned to the same school as their victims after a short punishment, rather than being expelled.

“The key to tackling bullying is giving teachers in the East Riding the powers they need to crack down on bad behaviour. But under Labour, the balance of power in the classroom has shifted too far in favour of disruptive pupils.

“Conservatives would give schools the power to take a zero tolerance approach towards serious offences such as bullying. We will give our teachers the tools they need to maintain discipline in the classroom before it spirals out of control.”