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Ready to Learn (RTL) is a controversial[note 1] zero-tolerance behaviour policy template used in some British secondary schools.[1][2] Under RTL, students receive a warning for any minor infraction; on committing a second minor infraction, they are sent to an "isolation" room for five lessons (looping around to the next day if necessary) and a one-hour detention after school. This is described as an "extremely simple, binary system".[2][3]
Ready to Learn was developed by Henbury School in Bristol in 2016.[1][2][3] It has since been adopted by various other academies nationally. RTL is sometimes given an alternative name by the school or trust which implements it.[note 2]
In popular culture
[edit]The fifth episode of School (2018), a BBC Two documentary, focuses on the introduction of Ready to Learn to the Castle School Education Trust in South Gloucestershire.[4][5] The programme describes RTL as "strict" and frames it as a cost-saving substitute for more expensive bespoke measures for children with complex needs.[4]: 11:04 A senior leader at Marlwood School concedes that RTL is unfair on students with complex needs.[4]: 25:06 When headteachers raise concerns about RTL's fairness, the trust's CEO encourages them to "hold our nerve" in enforcing it, saying that he would "rather have the problem" of a minority of students missing lessons than see lessons be disrupted.[4]: 30:48
References
[edit]- ^ a b Stapleton, Kerry (March 2024). 'Pupil resistance to the Ready to Learn behaviour system in British secondary schools, 2016–2023' (BA thesis, University of Oxford)
- ^ a b c Grant, Michael (25 August 2022). 'Zero-tolerance behaviour policy may be contributing to exclusion of Bristol’s most vulnerable students', The Bristol Cable
- ^ a b Knight, Jim (7 February 2017). "'The day I visited an isolation room - and realised that the strict behaviour strategy was working'". Times Educational Supplement.
- ^ a b c d Sign Zone: School, 03:45 28/12/2018, BBC2 England, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/12971C02?bcast=128215861 (Accessed 17 Oct 2024)
- ^ Yong, Michael (4 December 2018). "BBC Two documentary series School looks at controversial Ready to Learn isolation system". Bristol Live. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Secondary sources describing Ready to Learn in general as controversial:
- Stapleton, Kerry (March 2024). 'Pupil resistance to the Ready to Learn behaviour system in British secondary schools, 2016–2023' (BA thesis, University of Oxford)
- Yong, Michael (4 December 2018). "BBC Two documentary series School looks at controversial Ready to Learn isolation system". Bristol Live. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
- Claire Fox (24 October 2017). 'To smack or not to smack is not the question. We owe it to children to set boundaries', The Times Educational Supplement.
- Davis, Krishan (14 July 2017). "Parents anger at Withywood school's new behaviour policy which punishes kids for 'shiny shoes' and 'checking the time'". Bristol Live. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
- Sims, Aaron (18 May 2017). "Behaviour measures including 'six hour detentions' at The Castle School divide opinion". Gazette Series. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
- Colleen, Smith (19 October 2017). "Strict new 'Red Card' school rules in Devon cause storm of protest". Devon Live. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
- ^ For example, the Ted Wragg Multi-Academy Trust in Exeter introduced Ready to Learn policies under their original name in 2017, but rebranded them as "Reset" in 2020 without a substantive change in content (see: Stapleton, p. 10) and by October 2024, a parents' campaign group named after the rebranded policy, Reset Ted Wragg (see: Merritt, Anita (4 April 2023). "Frustrated parents demand Ted Wragg Trust make six urgent changes to school policy". Devon Live. Retrieved 17 October 2024.) reported further changes to the nomenclature of "Reset / RTL" (which they considered a "disingenuous" attempt to conceal the nature of the system). See Reset Ted Wragg