Parents need to take “some responsibility” for the behaviour of their children as schools attempt to reduce the number of permanent exclusions, according to council chiefs.

Bucks County Council (BCC) has created a plan to improve the way children’s behaviour is managed – after the number of permanent exclusions at the county’s schools increased by 100 per cent in 2015/16.

The children’s select committee report was presented to BCC’s cabinet this morning (September 10), prompting council leader, councillor Martin Tett, to ask what role parents play in the new plans.

He said: “Where is the parental responsibility in all of this? We place an awful lot of onus on teachers. Are we sufficiently clear that parents actually have some responsibility in terms of the behaviour of their children?

“Because talking with teachers, I know is one of the biggest problems they have is when they try to discipline children, help them with their behaviour management, actually what they get is the parents coming in and reading the riot act to the teacher, rather than supporting the teacher and criticising the behaviour of their children and help manage it.”

Chair of the children’s select committee, Cllr Dev Dhillon, agreed with Cllr Tett, however said parents of excluded children are often dealing with personal issues such as poor mental health or alcoholism.

However he added these families are usually known to the council, and steps will be taken to make sure both the parents and child receive the appropriate support.

He said: “We are talking about a very small minority numbers of which are excluded. And as I mentioned before, those are the parents where there are probably mental health issues, alcohol issues, financial pressures or something like that.

“In most cases those families are known to the county council and we can actually help them, and early help support it comes in with that.”

Cllr Mark Shaw hailed the “excellent report”, adding that young children showing signs of behavioural problems need to receive the right help from an early age to ensure they do not continue to be disruptive throughout the education system.

He said: “If you haven’t got those mechanisms or understandings of what you can do to both challenge and start the correctional path behaviour, that child is just going to get worse.

“We want to see the best deal for every pupil, regardless of where they come from, regardless of social mobility for pupils in Bucks.”

The cabinet backed the majority of the committee’s recommendations, including improved Early Help intervention for families of young children who are experiencing problems and “strongly encouraging” senior leadership at schools to attend behaviour training.

However council chiefs were unable to back the committee’s request to recruit an educational psychologist for Bucks schools due to a national shortage.

To view the full report and list of recommendations visit https://democracy.buckscc.gov.uk/documents/s119417/Report%20for%20CSCL%20Select%20Committee%20-%20Permanent%20Exclusions%20Inquiry.pdf