:00:11. > :00:14.chaotic collapse. This is part of Tonight on Newsnight Scotland:
:00:14. > :00:20.Keeping the peace in the classroom. How teachers deal with disruptive
:00:20. > :00:23.students and mobile phones in class. And, after an ill-tempered debate
:00:23. > :00:30.in parliament, do the political parties really want a substantive
:00:31. > :00:34.debate on cuts and charges for public services? Good evening. Good
:00:34. > :00:36.news for Scottish education as a new survey suggests most pupils are
:00:36. > :00:40.well behaved and many are increasingly familiar with new
:00:40. > :00:44.technology. But smart phones aren't necessarily creating a smarter
:00:44. > :00:48.generation. In fact, one of the challenges for schools is dealing
:00:48. > :00:50.with the misuse of mobile phones in classrooms. So, how do you
:00:50. > :01:00.discipline the connected generation? Our correspondent,
:01:00. > :01:09.
:01:09. > :01:16.OK, guys. We will begin in a second. Many of us have experienced seems
:01:16. > :01:22.like these was dubbed either as students or teachers. Calm down. --
:01:22. > :01:30.like these. Unruly pupils can make life miserable for pupils who want
:01:30. > :01:36.to learn. In the first year, all the teachers said we had to do the
:01:36. > :01:43.extra work at home. Everyone was talking. Them not able to go home
:01:43. > :01:48.and do the same Revision. -- they are not able. Trying to listen to
:01:48. > :01:53.the work but it does not happen. It sucks. The report highlights areas
:01:54. > :01:59.of concern. More than a third of head teachers and teachers have
:01:59. > :02:04.experienced abuse in the last year. There has been a rise in verbal
:02:04. > :02:08.abuse, physical abuse and aggression towards them. Over the
:02:08. > :02:18.past few years there has been a drop in demand of serious
:02:18. > :02:18.
:02:18. > :02:25.disruptive behaviour and violence around schools. -- in the amount.
:02:25. > :02:30.At this Academy in Glasgow, it is not in a leafy suburb. It has seen
:02:30. > :02:38.remarkable improvements in recent years. Academic performance has
:02:38. > :02:44.gone up and exclusions have gone down. The head teacher believes the
:02:44. > :02:50.ethos at the school has helped. is very important - parental
:02:50. > :02:54.backing. If you are open and honest with parents about expectations of
:02:54. > :03:03.the young people, and the parents are in agreement with you, you are
:03:04. > :03:08.more than halfway there. Far more school uniforms have been
:03:08. > :03:15.reintroduced. Mr Dougherty has high expectations of his pupils.
:03:16. > :03:20.looked very carefully at school uniform. That is the first visible
:03:20. > :03:24.indication of the unwavering support from parents. We have done
:03:24. > :03:28.very well in that respect. Parents have very clearly made the public
:03:28. > :03:38.and of fierce commitment to the school for their sons and daughters
:03:38. > :03:40.
:03:41. > :03:45.by dressing them as well as they do. -- fierce commitment. If children
:03:45. > :03:49.are dressed professionally and of all the same, that sets a tone
:03:49. > :03:55.within the classroom. We are hoping that points towards really good
:03:55. > :04:00.learning. Across Scotland, the persistent problem is what is
:04:00. > :04:08.called low-level misbehaviour. One new problem has emerged - the
:04:08. > :04:17.misuse of Mobot phones. Texting, even phoning in class. -- mobile
:04:17. > :04:23.phones. If I had been discussing an incident with a parent in my office.
:04:23. > :04:30.I ask the parents, how can it be happening at the moment? The parent
:04:30. > :04:34.says, my daughter has texted me. We tell parents it is a misuse of the
:04:34. > :04:42.technology. If a parent needs to know something, we will contact
:04:42. > :04:47.them. The role on mobiles is clear. Youngsters have mobile phones and
:04:47. > :04:52.they have that technology. Parents want them to have that. That is a
:04:53. > :04:58.fact. It is for the safety of youngsters. Parents must accept
:04:58. > :05:03.their responsibility and help us make sure that technology is not
:05:03. > :05:09.abuse. Where we are in class time, unless you have permission, your
:05:09. > :05:16.mobile device is not allowed to be switched on. Dealing with serious
:05:16. > :05:22.misbehaviour is no easy matter - far less tackling underlying issues.
:05:22. > :05:26.Are some teachers simply not up to dealing with bad behaviour? Good
:05:26. > :05:32.ones may have a certain authority or ability to engage students,
:05:32. > :05:36.which can help discipline. How hard it is it for a teacher to
:05:36. > :05:41.discipline are people who has texted their mother from class to
:05:41. > :05:45.said they are getting a row? I'm joined now by Jim Thewlis, who is
:05:45. > :05:51.the head teacher at Harris Academy in Dundee. When it comes to
:05:51. > :05:57.disruptive behaviour, is the problem of pupils or the parents?
:05:57. > :06:03.And if -- if we have the support of parents with discipline, it makes
:06:03. > :06:07.life immeasurably easier. The majority of parents are very
:06:07. > :06:11.supportive of the school. My experience is we have a parent body
:06:11. > :06:16.that is fully behind, for the majority of the time and the
:06:16. > :06:20.majority of the things we're trying to do for the school and the young
:06:20. > :06:25.people. The new thing seems to be that technology has moved on. We
:06:25. > :06:30.have young folk who know had to use the technology better than the
:06:30. > :06:36.teachers. How big an impact is that having on classroom discipline?
:06:36. > :06:41.What has been highlighted is the misuse of mobile phones. Technology
:06:41. > :06:46.is much more sophisticated. It is used in a way which perhaps is not
:06:46. > :06:52.a great deal different from the ways things have happened in the
:06:52. > :06:57.past. With the agreement of the parents and the pupils, you can say
:06:57. > :07:02.complex look forward with this. -- let's look forward. There are
:07:02. > :07:07.issues within schools. There are occasions within my school where
:07:07. > :07:12.technology has been misused. For the majority of occasions, it is
:07:12. > :07:17.not a major issue. One thing that struck way in this survey is the
:07:17. > :07:22.move away in schools from punishment exercises, if you like,
:07:23. > :07:29.for bad behaviour, to restorative practices. What does that mean?
:07:29. > :07:34.then any school, certainly be in my school, at 99% of young people will
:07:34. > :07:41.be there until the time they are due to leave school. We know that
:07:41. > :07:45.we have got to engage with young people. They have a professional
:07:45. > :07:50.responsibility to the and people. From time to time, young people
:07:50. > :07:55.will step out of line. Let's come back from theirs and carry on with
:07:55. > :07:59.the learning process and make sure we can support you and achieve best
:08:00. > :08:09.from your school Korea. It is to make sure they get on with the
:08:10. > :08:13.
:08:13. > :08:15.MSPs have been discussing free stuff. Personal care, bus passes
:08:15. > :08:18.for pensioners, tuition for students. The debate was initiated
:08:18. > :08:21.by the Scottish Labour leader, Johann Lamont. She has set up a
:08:21. > :08:24.commission to look into these universal benefits. The SNP say it
:08:24. > :08:27.shows she is a Tory hell bent on punishing the sick and the elderly.
:08:27. > :08:29.Here is a little sample of a bad tempered debate.
:08:30. > :08:34.I believe this is in the national interest. The easy option would be
:08:34. > :08:40.to sit back and pretend we can afford to pay for everything.
:08:40. > :08:45.However, I care too much about Scotland's two do that. I care too
:08:45. > :08:49.much about public services to let them bleed to death. It is not
:08:49. > :08:55.universality versus means testing, it is about what we can and cannot
:08:55. > :09:01.afford. It is about affordability, sustainability and how we protect
:09:01. > :09:04.those most vulnerable in these tough times. To all of the people I
:09:04. > :09:14.talk about, they're the people that think Labour should bear the brunt
:09:14. > :09:18.of Tory cuts, the people that Labour would it subject to means
:09:18. > :09:24.testing for a bus pass. We will protect the council tax freeze,
:09:24. > :09:28.free education, bus passes and care for the elderly, and a health care
:09:28. > :09:32.free at the point of need. We will do it in a balanced budget, a
:09:32. > :09:38.budget that has been cut year on year by the Tory government that
:09:38. > :09:47.Labour is so keen to team up with but will nevertheless strive to
:09:47. > :09:57.boost growth. We wanted Mick's Cafe David Ferrer place to live. Da ayes
:09:57. > :10:04.we want to make Scotland a good place to live. Doing nothing, if we
:10:04. > :10:09.are honest, is not an option. It is not good enough to stand up and
:10:09. > :10:12.stomp a speech and independence, it is important to look carefully,
:10:12. > :10:15.critically and analytically at these issues. The Liberal Democrats
:10:15. > :10:24.and their colleagues in the Labour Party delivered many universal
:10:24. > :10:32.benefits, dental and eye checks. Tuition fees. Bible was but that
:10:32. > :10:36.one. Bus passes. We delivered many of these issues together. It was us
:10:36. > :10:41.to get there that delivered this. We're not against universal
:10:41. > :10:45.benefits. The principle is not about universalism it is about the
:10:45. > :10:48.wider benefit. What do you get from the investment.
:10:48. > :10:53.I'm joined now by the former Labour minister Brian Wilson, and from
:10:53. > :10:57.Edinburgh by the Herald's Iain Macwhirter. In a recent column, you
:10:57. > :11:05.suggest it's that the commission was not bad politics, it was
:11:05. > :11:09.potentially lethal for the Labour Party? The list is certainly going
:11:09. > :11:15.to cause some political problems at the next election if they continue
:11:15. > :11:19.like this. They lost in 2007 by a landslide, what will they offer at
:11:19. > :11:24.the Scottish people in the next Parliamentary elections? Taking
:11:24. > :11:31.away prescription charges? No more free press up there? People paying
:11:31. > :11:39.�9,000 to go to university. politics of this looks bad? I don't
:11:39. > :11:44.think they look bad at all. With all of this nonsense of our free
:11:44. > :11:50.things for everything, these had been talked about by 90 % of the
:11:50. > :11:54.population getting them. That was on that basis of people not getting
:11:55. > :11:59.them and the ability to pay. That was affordable and will be
:11:59. > :12:05.affordable again, no doubt. As anyone with any sense would have
:12:05. > :12:10.said, you have to examine it. If we add to Campbell Christie's
:12:10. > :12:15.Commission, Crawford Beveridge his report, everyone they looked at it,
:12:15. > :12:20.the killer quote for the nationalists is surely, one of his
:12:20. > :12:25.political heroes, Michael Russell, the Education Secretary, he said,
:12:25. > :12:29.universality now drags down both the quality of the service to those
:12:29. > :12:33.in need and the ability of the Government to provide such services.
:12:33. > :12:41.The political parties do not have the courage to address the issue
:12:41. > :12:48.for feel of losing votes. A pig by a Russell might have disowned him
:12:48. > :12:55.self- or changed his mind. -- I think Michael Russell. He was
:12:55. > :13:00.speaking before the financial crass. Bat crash. I never have been a
:13:00. > :13:05.member of the Scottish Natural Party, so I do not accept that
:13:05. > :13:10.definition as a nationalist. The welfare state is all about this,
:13:10. > :13:16.universal benefits applied for child benefits and the NHS. A few
:13:16. > :13:22.start taking these criteria to apply a means test then you have to
:13:22. > :13:26.take them into account. It is not the wealthy people that are damaged
:13:26. > :13:32.when you take away free prescription charges. They are
:13:32. > :13:41.privately Capel bubble of doing without them. Bat capable of doing
:13:41. > :13:47.without them. It is people with average has -- household earnings
:13:47. > :13:52.there will be affected. They agreed to means test child benefit
:13:52. > :13:56.shortly? Perhaps Ed Miliband is insisting that child benefit will
:13:56. > :14:02.not be means tested for precisely these reasons. It is the universal
:14:02. > :14:05.benefit. That is accepted by the Labour Party. There is no point in
:14:05. > :14:15.introducing a means tested that? What you make of the point of those
:14:15. > :14:18.
:14:18. > :14:21.people on the margins suffering falls? You have to review it ends
:14:21. > :14:27.review of affordability. The idea that he would cherry-pick to war
:14:27. > :14:32.three of these populist items and say their untouchable, everyone
:14:32. > :14:36.must have them, it has been paid for by the ones that have not been
:14:36. > :14:43.selected for universality. I have an interest in special needs, would
:14:43. > :14:47.you like to tell us what you are the universal rights of people with
:14:47. > :14:55.special needs?, because I do not see them. I see people all around
:14:55. > :14:58.the country with cuts being made. The budget had been slashed. The
:14:58. > :15:02.idea that Jupiter were three of these things which you think are
:15:03. > :15:10.politically popular and say which had poor can have them, we are
:15:10. > :15:15.progress that, it is utter rubbish. Most of these are Labour policies,
:15:15. > :15:20.this is a bizarre situation. This is an act of extraordinary
:15:20. > :15:25.political self-harm by a Labour, comparable, the worst since Gordon
:15:25. > :15:31.Brown abandoned the 10 pence tax band. He also abandoned it because
:15:31. > :15:35.he said it benefited wild to be both. -- wealthy people. Is he
:15:35. > :15:43.seriously saying that Labour will go into the next election with
:15:43. > :15:48.Scottish people paying �9,000 tuition fee? Nobody said that. By
:15:48. > :15:58.June at a tiny budget that said that. It has just been invented.
:15:58. > :15:59.
:15:59. > :16:03.Big will be �9,000 per head. That has been invented by him. You spoke
:16:03. > :16:07.about affordability and Labour have spoken about affordability, what
:16:07. > :16:13.would you suggest is taking no way to save cash? Which the services
:16:13. > :16:22.were due remove? I do not suggest removing any of them. It is about a
:16:22. > :16:29.balance. Everything is means that council tax to be means tested.
:16:29. > :16:35.Nobody talks about �9,000 tuition fees. That is what it cost! That is
:16:35. > :16:39.what it costs for their tuition! Are a understand you don't win to
:16:39. > :16:45.hear this. They have cut the bursaries for the poorer students.
:16:45. > :16:53.Nobody above �34,000 earnings but a bursary for higher education. They
:16:54. > :16:59.have cut that by �890 a year were the poorest students. At last come