ABSTRACT
Educational bureaucracy currently points to the need to drive up standards with better quality teaching as the way to solve the problem of disaffection and underachievement in schools. It has done some commendable work on identifying literacy and numeracy as vital key skills that every teacher needs to improve their teaching of. But improved teaching, while a vital strategy in reducing the incidents of verbal or physical abuse, is only one part of a much more comprehensive programme needed to tackle the underlying causes of anger, low motivation and abusive behaviour in our schools. Historically, the vast majority of teachers are inventive and resourceful at finding their way around a whole lot of behaviour problems. However, they could be given more help with the positive work that they do.
