Teachers told to use TV show tactics in class

Teachers should liven up their lessons by bringing game shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? into the classroom to stop children being disruptive, according to the Government’s behaviour “tsar”.

Games based on shows like ITV’s Blockbuster and the Radio 4 panel game Just A Minute could be used to make learning more interesting, Sir Alan Steer says in the final report of a four-year government inquiry into behaviour. Other suggestions include introducing bingo sessions, where pupils mark their cards when the teacher speaks a particular word, and Taboo, which involves describing a word or concept without mentioning certain forbidden words.

Last night the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, said he accepted all the recommendations in Sir Alan’s report, saying: “Children can't learn if classes are disrupted by bad behaviour.”

Sir Alan, the former head of Seven Kings school in Redbridge, Essex, argues that high standards of teaching are essential to ensuring good behaviour in school. Every school, he says, must draw up a code of practice for delivering top-quality teaching.

He also wants schools to take more responsibility for pupils’ behaviour on their way to and from school.

Sir Alan’s report was unveiled at the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers in Bournemouth yesterday