Behaviour and why life is better offline

A deputy headteacher emailed me this week and said: “Geoff, could you please lobby the government for a new national strategy – one designed to make young people nice again”.

It was a message written in jest, of course, but also making a serious point, and one which resonates with more of the teachers and leaders I talk to. Because in a society where everyone seems to be cross about everything all the time, some trends are showing up within our schools and colleges. 

Attitudes and behaviours of some young people have changed post-Covid. Attitudes and behaviours of some parents have too. 

And in particular, some of the things we once took for granted – the protocols, the social contract between school and parent, the sense simply of being nice to one another – these have begun to fray.