I'll give heads power to ban the school yobs, says CameronCameron and the kids: the Tory leader wants greater respect for the role of teachers
Heads will be given the final say on expelling unruly pupils under tough Tory plans to restore respect "and even fear" in the classroom.
David Cameron claims Labour has fuelled a breakdown of discipline in schools by pursuing Left-wing doctrines which should have been left behind in the 1960s - and it will take a generation to reverse.
In a hardline speech that will appeal to traditional supporters, the Tory leader said it was absurd that heads are regularly overruled by their local education authority when they try to expel classroom yobs.
David Cameron claims Labour has fuelled a breakdown of discipline in schools by pursuing Left-wing doctrines which should have been left behind in the 1960s - and it will take a generation to reverse.
In a hardline speech that will appeal to traditional supporters, the Tory leader said it was absurd that heads are regularly overruled by their local education authority when they try to expel classroom yobs.
Appeals panels are overturning a quarter of cases referred to them and returning more than half of those pupils to their schools, he added.
"Imagine what that does to the standing of the head in the eyes of the students - to see a child, expelled for bad behaviour swaggering back in. It sends completely the wrong message about the relative power of the school and the child."
Mr Cameron pledged that a Tory government would strip councils of the right to overrule schools, with any appeals against expulsions being determined by governors.
He advocated powerful new homeschool contracts setting out standards of behaviour expected of parents, children and teachers.
Heads would be able to refuse places to parents who refused to sign. Mr Cameron also promised action against the "tiny minority" of children who undermine authority in schools by making false allegations of abuse against teachers.
A recent survey suggested as many as one in five has been falsely accused.
A Conservative government, he said, would give teachers the protection of anonymity until any case against them had been considered to stop an innocent person's name being dragged through the mud.
Speaking at the Policy Exchange think-tank in London, Mr Cameron insisted: "Schools should be places where teachers teach and children learn - not holding centres for kids no matter how badly they behave.
"Most of all, they should be places where the kids respect - and even fear - the teachers, not the other way round."
Mr Cameron said the best schools, whether private, academies, grammars or comprehensives, had "simple things in common".
"Most of all, they have an independent ethos and clear rules on acceptable behaviour," he added.
He attacked Labour's approach, accusing it of failing children by sticking to outdated ideas which led to a "lack of rigour and falling standards" in schools.
He attacked the doctrine that every child should be treated not as unique but as identical - "that equality and equal rights mean throwing every child into the same class in the same school. Bright kids are held back and less able kids are left behind."
The idea of education as a process of "solitary discovery" rather than learning from a teacher had also caused huge damage, as had Labour's view of schools as ' outposts of the central state' rather than independent institutions.
"The result is a target culture which makes it harder for heads to create their own ethos for their school - and that includes rules on discipline."
Early interventions should identify children with emotional and behavioural needs for extra help - possibly in specialist school - from the moment they start at primary level, instead of waiting until they are in secondaries as now, Mr Cameron said.
And he called for voluntary organisations which specialise in working with difficult children to be given a right to supply education to children excluded from school.
He underlined his commitment to measures to strengthen the family, which he said was "not merely a unit of society but the origin of society".
The Tory leader added: "Heads need to be able to impose real codes of behaviour and discipline - and be backed up by parents. I do not believe we can achieve miracles overnight. Changing our culture is the work of a generation or more."
Education Minister Kevin Brennan insisted that teachers had been given the powers they need to be tough on discipline. He added that "only 1.4 per cent of permanently excluded pupils are returned to their school on appeal".
"Imagine what that does to the standing of the head in the eyes of the students - to see a child, expelled for bad behaviour swaggering back in. It sends completely the wrong message about the relative power of the school and the child."
Mr Cameron pledged that a Tory government would strip councils of the right to overrule schools, with any appeals against expulsions being determined by governors.
He advocated powerful new homeschool contracts setting out standards of behaviour expected of parents, children and teachers.
Heads would be able to refuse places to parents who refused to sign. Mr Cameron also promised action against the "tiny minority" of children who undermine authority in schools by making false allegations of abuse against teachers.
A recent survey suggested as many as one in five has been falsely accused.
A Conservative government, he said, would give teachers the protection of anonymity until any case against them had been considered to stop an innocent person's name being dragged through the mud.
Speaking at the Policy Exchange think-tank in London, Mr Cameron insisted: "Schools should be places where teachers teach and children learn - not holding centres for kids no matter how badly they behave.
"Most of all, they should be places where the kids respect - and even fear - the teachers, not the other way round."
Mr Cameron said the best schools, whether private, academies, grammars or comprehensives, had "simple things in common".
"Most of all, they have an independent ethos and clear rules on acceptable behaviour," he added.
He attacked Labour's approach, accusing it of failing children by sticking to outdated ideas which led to a "lack of rigour and falling standards" in schools.
He attacked the doctrine that every child should be treated not as unique but as identical - "that equality and equal rights mean throwing every child into the same class in the same school. Bright kids are held back and less able kids are left behind."
The idea of education as a process of "solitary discovery" rather than learning from a teacher had also caused huge damage, as had Labour's view of schools as ' outposts of the central state' rather than independent institutions.
"The result is a target culture which makes it harder for heads to create their own ethos for their school - and that includes rules on discipline."
Early interventions should identify children with emotional and behavioural needs for extra help - possibly in specialist school - from the moment they start at primary level, instead of waiting until they are in secondaries as now, Mr Cameron said.
And he called for voluntary organisations which specialise in working with difficult children to be given a right to supply education to children excluded from school.
He underlined his commitment to measures to strengthen the family, which he said was "not merely a unit of society but the origin of society".
The Tory leader added: "Heads need to be able to impose real codes of behaviour and discipline - and be backed up by parents. I do not believe we can achieve miracles overnight. Changing our culture is the work of a generation or more."
Education Minister Kevin Brennan insisted that teachers had been given the powers they need to be tough on discipline. He added that "only 1.4 per cent of permanently excluded pupils are returned to their school on appeal".
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