I'm not keen, as a classroom teacher, on phoning home about children when they misbehave in class. I have better things to do in my free time at work like plan "outstanding" lessons. I also would like to think that I could discipline most young people in my class with a mixture of humour and clear boundaries, and generally it works to be honest. There have always been some young young people who don't respond, but you tend to find that they don't respond to others either.
This number is increasing though, and what's the reason? Autism and ADHD apparently. I really don't buy into this. I'm not saying that autism and ADHD are figments of parental imagination - I have seen genuine cases where support is deserved and required, but due to more accurate "tests", more and more youngsters are being diagnosed with the conditions when actually they just can't behave or can't be bothered.
These are being used as excuses for poor behaviour and/or performance. These conditions are almost desirable for lazy parents, as it gives them some leeway and "substance" to their argument when teachers phone up to inform them that their spawn are going to leave school with few meaningful qualifications.
In a political climate where Wilshaw (Ofsted's head tyrant) is saying that he wants to get rid of the excuse culture and make teachers fully accountable for their students' performance, why do we offer the parents and students themselves so many excuses on a plate?
Hardly a level playing field.
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