Pupils in England to Learn Good Behaviour

Pupils in England will learn manners, respect, and good behaviour, the new Children's Secretary Ed Balls has announced.

Under the new plans, schools in England are to receive £13.7m with the aim of starting primary and secondary school lessons in social and emotional skills by 2011.

A programme that helps children deal with anger, anxiety and conflicts is already being rolled out across England.

The programme focuses on encouraging pupils to understand themselves, manage their feelings and promotes social skills and the understanding of others.

It is already running in 60 per cent of primary schools in the UK and the UK Government says it has already had a major impact on behaviour and attainment.

On top of the £7m already committed to fund the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (Seal) programme, the Government is investing an extra £13.7m over four years, officials announced.

It is hoped that by July 2009 all primary schools will have had help in introducing the Seal programme

Approximately 10,000 schools are already involved in the scheme, which will be rolled out across England's secondary schools from September. The aim is to have the scheme running in all of England's secondary schools by 2011.

Mr Balls said many of the schools that had implemented the programme had seen a marked improvement in the way their pupils interacted with each other both inside and outside the classroom.

"The programme will make sure that all children understand the importance of being confident and interacting with other children in a respectful and positive manner," he added.

Rather than being confined to one lesson, the programme works best when it is embedded across the curriculum, research suggests.

Sports lessons are seen as a good opportunity to teach pupils how to be good losers and gracious winners, and English literature offers a chance to examine characters who have overcome difficulties

But Mr Balls was keen to stress that emotional intelligence lessons go hand in hand with the tough new behaviour powers which came into force in April this year.

They aimed to remove any ambiguity over a teacher's right to confiscate items, such as mobile phones, give detentions and physically remove violent pupils from the classroom.

"These initiatives give teachers some powerful tools to make sure good behaviour and an atmosphere of respect are the norm in all schools," Mr Balls added.