Tories promise greater expulsion powers

Plans to ban persistent troublemakers from the classroom have been laid out by the Conservative party.

David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, said that the proposals would bring order to classrooms, and pledged to end the right of pupils to appeal to an independent panel against expulsion.

He also suggested that he would end the financial penalties that some local authorities place on schools which expel students, while saying that he will increase the authority of head teachers.

However, schools minister Jim Knight was critical of the plans, telling the BBC that "head teachers have the clear power to exclude disruptive pupils, but they tell us they do not want the appeals process to be abolished".

The Association of School and College Leaders also told the news provider that it welcomed the focus on classroom discipline found in the Conservatives' proposals.

But general secretary John Dunford said that some elements, such as abolishing the right to appeal, would cause "more stressful, time consuming and costly" problems for head teachers.

Department for Children, Schools and Families figures reveal that around 30 per cent of expulsions and 21 per cent of suspensions are due to "persistent disruptive behaviour", reports the London Evening Standard.