Responding to a new report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change on pupil behaviour in schools, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said:

“While no doubt well-meaning, many of the recommendations presented in this report are misguided and unworkable.

"Furthermore, some of the alarmist language used is unhelpful – we must not lose sight of the fact that the large majority of children are well behaved and engage with school positively. When it comes to talking about such important and sensitive issues, it is important that we are precise with our language and our diagnosis of the problem.

“There is no doubt that schools are having to deal with increasingly complex behaviour challenges, and it is equally true that there is a real dearth of multi-agency support for schools following years of spending cuts.

“However, teachers cannot solve society’s problems alone, and asking them to take on extra work because of the cuts to local authority services will stop them from spending time in the classroom teaching pupils.

“It is therefore very hard to see how some of the recommendations set out in this report would be workable. There is a real risk that the approach advocated here would not only damage relationships between schools and parents, but also massively increased the workload of teachers and leaders.

"Rather than pushing more responsibility onto schools, the focus should be on rebuilding those agencies that have become depleted and recognising that improving behaviour is a responsibility for everyone.”