The Paragon - NWET&D - Newspaper Articles Story

May 31, 2013.Children’s behavior in classrooms throughout the United Kingdom has significantly degenerated in the last five years, according to a poll by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

“A teacher at a secondary school in Dudley said: ‘I’ve been sworn at, argued with, shouted at, had books thrown at me, threatened with physical abuse and had things stolen and broken,’” an ATL press release stated.

Another teacher told researchers about a five-year-old whose conduct “ranges from being very caring and wanting a lot of attention to swearing at staff, punching, kicking, hitting staff and other children, smashing up furniture and equipment.”

In another account, a male teacher stated, “I was cyberbullied-pupils created a pornographic Photoshop image of me.”

Of 844 ATL-member teachers, heads of school, and other support staff surveyed throughout the UK, “62% said there are more children with emotional, behavioural and mental health problems than two years ago, and 56% said there are more than five years ago.”

Almost 80 percent of those involved in the study blamed “lack of boundaries at home” as the principal reason for the spike. Other common reasons include “emotional problems (68%), wanting attention from other students (64%), a lack of positive role models at home (61%) and family breakdowns (61%).”