Should schools have rules? Obviously, yes. No one – I think – disputes the necessity of having rules that keep people safe and make life easier and more pleasant for everyone involved. So, a rule setting out acceptable behaviour in a science lab or DT workshop are clearly important and sensible. Rules governing minimum expectations of how students should behave in classrooms and social spaces are also desirable, as are rules about how teachers should and should not interact with children. So far, so good.
But the sorts of school rules that tend to get the commentariat aerated are those which seem arbitrary. One of the most predictable flash points is around school uniform. British schools are relative outliers in insisting a uniform be worn (this tends not to be the norm in most other developed nations) and generations of students have looked for ways to subvert these rules. When I was a student, it was considered the height of fashion to wear one’s tie with the fat end tucked into the shirt with only a long, narrow strip of tie on display. For the most part, none of our teachers seemed to mind about this so we pushed the boundaries of acceptable sock colours. Back in the mid 80s, white terry-towelling socks were considered pretty cool by teenage boys and so great efforts were made to get away with wearing them. This was where my school drew an absolute line. Skinny ties were fine but white socks were absolutely verboten. Obviously, none of this made any sense. No one ever even attempted to give us a plausible reason for the banning of white socks, they were just banned. We knew this and accepted the consequences for taking the risk.
Despite all this, I absolutely think that school uniforms are a good idea. As an example of why, the effects of non-uniform days on the most disadvantaged students are hard to ignore. And, if we’re going to have uniforms, we need to have a requirement that the uniform be worn. How strict these rules are varies from school to school. I’ve worked in schools where the only clear line was drawn on wearing trainers of any colour other than black, and I’ve worked in schools where students were expected to have their top shirt buttons done up at all times. Personally, I prefer laxer uniform rules – I’m just not someone who finds it easy to sweat stuff this small because I just don’t see it – but I fully accept and understand that if a school has rules, then all staff need to take responsibility for ensuring the rules are upheld.
Having a rule and allowing it to be routinely flouted is the worst possible choice. This teaches children to have contempt for adult authority which is a poor lesson as they’ll be adults themselves all too soon. But having a rule and applying a consequence inflexibly is almost as bad. Rules – especially the more arbitrary rules around hair, make-up and shirt buttoning preferences – are there to be kicked against. We hold the line not because these things matter but to prevent students from chipping away at the important rules governing safety and harmony. If children are trying to get away with a bit of eyeliner or a skin fade, so the argument goes, then they’ll be less invested in setting fire to the drama studio or nicking the Year 7’s lunch money. But because these rules don’t really matter, we need to be very flexible about how we apply consequences. For instance, it’s fine to have a rule forbidding brightly coloured hair dye but it’s ludicrous to insist on external exclusion until the dye grows out. Sanctions need to be proportionate. Or, as the horny old adage goes, certainly of consequences is far more important than severity.
Getting all this right is tough. Who’d be a headteacher? Sometimes it seems you have a choice between allowing standards to slip to the point where no one’s learning anything and finding yourself the subject of a social media witch hunt for striving to dig a school out of a pit. This post by Oli Knight does an excellent job of suggesting some proxies for better decision making in schools. He suggests the following very sound advice:
- Always run a new process or policy past a serving Headteacher. Get them to sense check the underlying reason for the idea.
- Always bring it home first – before deciding on a course of action I hypothetically apply that action to a member of my own family. How would they feel and react? If it feels unpalatable, then you probably shouldn’t proceed.
- Always link it into the school vision – does the proposed course of action strengthen the school vision for our students. If it does not directly link to the vision, consider stopping and re-evaluating
Only top of this, here are five principles specifically on setting and upholding school rules:
1 Limit the rules
Have the fewest number of rules possible. Collect together all the rules you have currently and commit to getting rid of around half of them*. Invite as wide an audience as possible to discuss which of the current rules are the most and least important. You might be surprised at how liberating an exercise this might prove to be.
2 What we permit we promote
Anything you allow to happen in your school will become socially normal. Human beings tend to approve of those things we see regularly and assume the horrors that surround them are just the way things are. If you accept something it will become acceptable. Think carefully about whether this is what you really want. If it’s not, maybe you need another rule.
3 Certainty not severity
As argued above, rules and sanctions are distinct; just because you need a rule doesn’t mean the punishment for infraction needs to be harsh. Think carefully about the type of rule being broken: if a student has brought a knife into school and is threatening others with it then permanent exclusion may be on the cards. If a student has walked the wrong way around the one way system during lesson time when no other students are around, maybe just let them know you’ve spotted them, reiterate why it’s important to follow the system at lesson change overs, and send them on their way. Flexibility isn’t weakness; making sensible, proportionate accommodations will be respected.
4 Relationships require respect
While relationships are crucial, it’s not “all about relationships”. We need to have respect for people we don’t know, not just those for whom we have some sort of personal connection. Rules which require students to smile, be charming, open doors for others all grease the wheels of a harmonious society. When rules guarantee minimum standards of mutual respect, relationships have the space to blossom. This means we should have low tolerance for rudeness, defiance and aggression – these behaviours always need to be curbed. But punishing children for not opening a door would be daft; instead, we should model why it’s worthwhile with warmth and patience until they get it.
5 Act as a proxy for the real world
Schools are, by and large, safe places to make mistakes. One of our responsibilities is to prepare students for entry into a larger, more unforgiving adult world. In the real world lack of punctuality results in being fired so in schools we should take the trouble to insist students arrive at lessons in a timely manner. In the real world, violence and aggression ends in prison so in school we need to stamp down hard on these behaviours not only because they make schools unsafe but because we’re preparing children for the requirement to weigh consequences, keep tempers and resolves disputes reasonably. Some of the rules we have in schools – where to eat lunch, how to walk, how to interact in a classroom – don’t have their equivalent in the adult world. That’s because these rules become unwritten. Normally social behaviour tends not to need definition for adults but for children, learning how to interact in all sorts of new situations, defining the rules really helps.
I’d add two responsibilities for schools to this: Schools should only make rules that can actually be followed by pupils in the vast majority of circumstances and, connected to this schools have a responsibility not to make rules which disproportionately burden some groups of students while privileging others, particularly where these burdens are distributed according to protected characteristics. A school hairstyle policy that principally addresses hairstyles more commonly worn by Black students while permitting those worn more commonly by white students is unjust. So, I would argue, are rules like SLANT which exclude students with SEND that make certain actions within SLANT impossible – a blind or partially sighted child cannot make eye contact, a child with a musculoskeletal disorder may not be able to sit up straight or lean forward and so on, no matter how much effort they put in.
Whenn I took on my 1st headship of a primary school that had just been put in special measures being graded 4 for everything… I devised the rules that I wanted, but went to every class inc reception and asked the children what rules would help them to learn? I then “sold” my rules to them as a compilation of theirs – NOT a list of minimum expectations- as this just encourages “boundary issues” – instead they were expressed simply as:
We will all help each other to be:
In the right place
At the right time
With the right stuff
Doing the right thing!
Corporate responsibilities is encouraged, opportunities for appropriate differences between subjects / activities were enabled, and automatically discussion points for transgressors to consider their actions and improve decisions are laid out.
I made sure that I sold the whole idea to the staff who were each tasked with reinforcing the consistent message across the school.
The new “rules” were presented in a short assembly, and the next day pupils in all years were telling each other the rules and doing exactly what we’d asked.
Before the first monitoring inspection, behaviour was consistently Good across all year groups and parts of the school day!
The message went home in the first week’s newsletter, and I had so many parents wanting copies to use at home that I had fridge magnets made with the rules on and the school crest! Well worth the trivial cost!
I shared this approach with others, and another school I know simply took the rules and printed them out and put them up – needless to say the impact was virtually non existent!
Yes the rules were helpful, but there was no buy-in from staff or students in this latter case (they were not engaged in a) the drawing up of the rules nor b) the whole school delivery of them. I am convinced that this was not merely because it was a pupil referral unit, or secondary, and would love it if anyone else out there would like to test it out!!!!
If you fancy using them, please would you let me know how things go by emailing dfmoorse@yahoo.co.uk
I hope they help!
Apologies… I left out a crucial line – Rules should read as follows:
We will all help each other to be:
In the right place
At the right time
With the right stuff
AND THE RIGHT HEAD
Doing the right thing!
Sorry I omitted the penultimate line originally
You didn’t address the thorny issue of leading by example. Some teachers do not always dress appropriately or indeed look well groomed themselves….. at some point the conversation needs to be had… flip flops and low cut tops? Unbutton shirts ? Tattoos revealed ? Hair ?
It’s all very delicate as it is so personal but I often think teachers banging on about smartening up and representing the school should also look at how they are turned out ?
Ph07961
I largely agree with David and some commenters but wonder about the possible conflict between two areas that I feel are important.
All teachers should enforce the rules – I agree as otherwise we undermine one another and pupils don’t get the consistent message.
Sanctions should be “flexible” – agree with the extreme examples presented.
However, I manage several new-ish teachers, such as NQTs (ECTs, fine, whatever) who have made the point to me that when they go around reminding pupils to do up top buttons or challenging them for untucked shirts or wearing trainers, they do so fully in the knowledge that there is literally no consequence for that pupil and by the time they have rounded the corner their shirt is immediately untucked or tie undone etc. The overall impact is that the teacher is not viewed as having any authority. Some of my younger colleagues in particular feel that they would rather maintain discipline in their classrooms by demanding high standards there with consequences if necessary rather than give the appearance around school that their word counts for nothing. And of course not all teachers enforce the rules (I have never encountered a school where they do) so they feel like a foolish minority by trying to do so with no backup.
Is there an easy solution to this apparent conflict?
The problem here is that not enough thought has been given to consequence of having unenforceable school rules. It’s a bit like speed limits: the main consequence of speeding is that we learn that for the most part there is no consequence and that punishment is ‘bad luck’.
If you’re going to have a rule about tip buttons (I wouldn’t bother) then you need a system by which it can be easily enforced. For instance, if all students carried a uniform card which, when they were discovered infringing a rule in some way, was taken from them and marked with the infringement. If they were discovered by another teacher to have committed a second offence their card would be taken resulting is, say, a detention. Students would then be expected to get a second card. Being caught without a card would also result in a consequence.
Thanks for replying David; I like the speeding analogy.
And for what it’s worth, I am very pleased that I had the same idea as you! I suggested a page for this purpose inside the homework diaries that they are all given but apparently I was overcomplicating the matter and being unsupportive. Ha!
I prefer rules that clearly focus on improving conditions for learning rather than easily enforceable (pointless, often uniform or hairstyle) rules designed to establish compliance. I can easily teach a class with green hair and piercings, but it’s harder to teach a class who don’t listen!
Doesn’t everyone prefer those sorts of rules?
All thing considered but rules should be upheld by teachers, and penalties should be lenient. Some teachers believed that it is preferable to keep order in the classroom by setting high expectations and enforcing them when necessary than to give the impression that their authority is meaningless outside of the classroom.