Covid and schools: Bid to tackle vaping and swearing at teachers

All over Wales, teachers say the behaviour of some pupils has deteriorated significantly

Pupils are being offered support after an increase in children vaping and swearing at teachers post-Covid.

Staff at Carmarthenshire high schools said a rise in bad behaviour was putting significant strain on teachers.

Pupils said they had seen children as young as 11 vaping in schools, with "shocking" language hurled at staff.

Now every school in the county has a inclusion officer to work with pupils and parents to try to improve behaviour.

Teachers reported an increase in bad behaviour after pupils returned to face-to-face lessons, with head teachers writing to parents earlier this year urging them to talk to their children about their "detrimental behaviour".

This included an increase in inappropriate use of social media, more pupils using e-cigarettes - or vapes - during the school day, and more graffiti and abusive language directed towards other pupils and staff.

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Now head teachers in Carmarthenshire have come together to try to understand the problems behind the bad behaviour, with pupils telling the S4C Newyddion programme they had witnessed disruptive behaviour when they returned to the classroom.

Molly say she has been shocked at the behaviour of some in her school

Molly, a Year 8 pupil at Ysgol Bro Dinefwr in Llandeilo, said she had been shocked after seeing pupils vaping in and out of school.

"It's like, 'oh my goodness, why are people doing this?" she said.

"My older brother had warned me that there was some bad behaviour, but not a lot. I think I'm just unlucky that they're in my form class."

'Pupils vaping on the bus'

Lucas has seen pupils vaping on the bus to school

Lucas, in Year 13 at the same school, said behavioural problems had increased, saying he had been appalled by the abuse directed at his teachers.

"We now have around five [students] vaping on the bus," he said.

"And I've heard shouting when I walk pass the class, there's been students swearing at teachers. I've heard really vulgar language. I'm just absolutely in shock."

Now Molly and Lucas, along with other pupils, have contributed to a new joint campaign video with all secondary schools and the council to try to improve behaviour.

Ionwen Spowage has noticed a difference since lockdown

Pupils and teachers attended a sharing session at County Hall in July, where comments were recorded to create the video.

"When youngsters came back to school after the lockdown, it was noticeable that they didn't have systems, they didn't have routines," said Ionwen Spowage, head teacher at Ysgol Bro Dinefwr.

"The way they had interacted with staff had changed quite dramatically.

"We saw a lot of disrespect, a lot of rudeness. It provided an enormous challenge in terms of providing that culture for learning... that's where we all felt that we needed to press reset effectively, which was the beginning of this campaign."

There is now ongoing work on helping pupils and trying to understand their challenging behaviour.

Ysgol Bro Myrddin head teacher Dr Llinos Jones says there will be full-time youth officers in her school

"Money has been invested so that every school can now have an inclusion officer to work with pupils, to work with parents," said Dr Llinos Jones, head of Ysgol Bro Myrddin, Carmarthen, who is also part of the campaign.

"And full time youth officers in the schools because teachers are not here to punish... we're here to work with individuals in order to improve behaviour in general."

'Mark left on education system'

It is not clear how much money the council will invest as the project is still ongoing, according to a council spokesman.

"I'm very sorry that these two-and-a-half years have left their mark on our pupils. It has left its mark on the education system," said councillor Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education.

"They haven't been there face-to-face with the teachers. They've been staring at some screen for hours on end. Maybe they've lost the habit of being in class and behaving in a good way.

"We support the campaign because we listen to our head teachers. These head teachers play an important role in the county, they look after our young people.

"We have to listen, we have to help our schools, to help the teachers get the best out of the children. We can't sweep it under the carpet. We're determined to work with our head teachers, with our staff in our secondary schools."