The promise of equality of educational opportunity remains unfulfilled if disadvantaged students don’t have the best possible schooling. Yet, our least advantaged students are also those least likely to benefit from well-run classes and schools. This harms students’ learning and ultimately compounds educational disadvantage. 

Top teaching starts with having well-run and orderly classrooms. But Australian classrooms are among the most disorderly in the world. Too many Australian teachers and schools don’t provide the conditions for students to learn. To make matters worse, many educators are ideologically opposed to correcting poor behaviour in schools. Schools are no longer a place of order and disciplinary authority. Today, it’s educators who fear the students. 

Are Australian schools doing enough to promote positive behaviours? Do schools have their hands tied in imposing discipline? Does poor behaviour start in the home and need a solution from beyond the school gate? Are today’s generation too hard to tame?