Support for more school discipline

RESEARCH shows that 36 percent of Balearic citizens believe that toughening up of discipline in the classroom should be a priority measure to improve teaching conditions on the Islands. Questionnaires revealed that another option which had a great deal of support was the involvement of parents in school matters, the lowering of the number of pupils in each class, and the granting of higher educational budgets to support school needs. When the study examined the key problems suffered in teaching in schools throughout the islands, 21 percent of those questioned mentioned conflict in the classroom, 20 percent cited “lack of commitment” by parents to the education of their children, and 19 percent spoke of lack of discipline in school. In terms of awarding points on a scale of 1 to 10 to the Balearic education system as a whole, the average given was 5.2. This figure rose to 5.5 for private education centres but dropped to 4.9 in the instance of public schools.