Schools fear ‘gang culture’
A new report from education watchdog Ofsted has revealed that a fifth of England’s secondary schools are concerned about ‘gang culture’.
The report also suggests that up to half of pupils in some schools show signs of “low level disruption”, and has called for strong leadership in schools to stamp out gang culture.
While Ofsted’s annual report earlier this month showed that the proportion of “good or better” behaviour in secondary schools has dropped to two thirds, down from three-quarters in 1997, its latest results suggest that teachers are now concerned by groups of youngsters causing trouble.
But, though schools are increasingly concerned, they were unable to provide the inspectors with “hard evidence”.
Weapon-carrying incidents were found to be rare in schools, with just under ten per cent claiming that there were two or more such incidents during the past 12 months.
But Ofsted noted that drug abuse is a “daily challenge” for some colleges.
To address the problems associated with gang culture, Ofsted’s report recommends that schools should create a strong sense of community, create better links with parents and even use information systems to track and analyse behaviour.
Chief inspector David Bell said: “Although the large majority of schools are orderly places where children behave well, it is worrying that unsatisfactory behaviour has not reduced over time.
“Unsatisfactory behaviour by a minority of pupils causes nuisance and distress and disrupts the learning of others and I hope this report helps early years centres, schools, colleges and LEAs tackle it effectively.”
All secondary schools where behaviour is considered “unsatisfactory or poor” will be revisited by Ofsted within the year.
