Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Poor pupil behaviour increasingly contributes to teacher stress and departure from the profession.
Conclusion
We challenged the Department on the extent to which poor pupil behaviour could negatively impact teachers’ mental health and wellbeing, as set out in written evidence from Education Support.56 60% of schoolteachers felt they spent too much time following up on behaviour incidents and the proportion of ex-teachers citing pupil behaviour as a reason for leaving rose from 32% to 44% in one year alone (2023 to 2024). The Department told us that a lot of the good practice work on behaviour issues highlighted good quality whole-school behaviour policies. In May 2025, the Department announced 90 new attendance and behaviour hubs that will target “intensive” support 49 C&AG’s Report, Figure 1 and 11 50 C&AG’s Report, para 2.27 51 Q 35 52 Q 33 53 C&AG’s Report, para 2.29 54 ITN0004 55 Q 28 56 ITN0009 17 to 500 schools a year and for best practice on tackling behaviour to be spread to 450 other schools. It noted that the network and regional learning from this will “make a difference”.57 Importance of pay
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.8 The attendance and behaviour hubs programme support senior leaders in developing good school cultures with high expectations. Regional support begins in the 2025–26 academic year, with wider rollout from January 2026. Interim findings from the department’s previous Behaviour Hubs programme (2021-2025), indicate positive changes in staff-rated behaviour, particularly in high deprivation areas. Following the programme, there was an increase in staff that agreed there was sufficient training and support to manage behaviour and a consistent understanding and application of behaviour policy in their school, Further rollout and funding are subject to spending review outcomes and evaluation findings. Support will be monitored to ensure maximum impact.