The government’s £10 million behaviour hubs scheme will end in its current form in March, the Department for Education has confirmed.
Ministers are “considering different ways on how to build the programme”, a spokesperson told Schools Week.
It is the latest hubs scheme to face the chop as the Labour administration takes the axe to Conservative-era initiatives to save cash.
Among options being considered is “build[ing] school support for behaviour and attendance into the new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams”, which are being rolled out from this month.
Launched in 2021, the behaviour hubs programme matches “lead” schools and MATs, known for having an “exemplary” culture, with “partner” schools looking to improve behaviour.
Behaviour is worsening
The move to end the scheme comes despite a surge in disruptive pupil behaviour.
A government report published last spring found schools were losing almost a quarter of lesson time to poor behaviour, while leaders warned of worsening issues and a growing impact on teacher wellbeing.
The report, published by the DfE following its second national behaviour survey, warned that leaders and teachers were losing an average of seven minutes per half-hour of lesson time to misbehaviour.
This was up from 6.3 minutes the previous year and equates to almost nine weeks across a school year.
In November, the charity Education Support’s annual teacher wellbeing index found 57 per cent of staff felt pupils had become more disruptive.
Since behaviour hubs launched, 664 schools and MATs have been given support either through a one-year or two-year plan. More than 370,000 pupils have been involved.
Questions over programme efficacy
However, the efficacy of the scheme has come under fire.
In November, a survey showed pupils reporting that behaviour had got slightly worse over the first term of the scheme. However, those at schools with higher deprivation levels said behaviour had slightly improved.
Staff were much more positive about the scheme’s impact on improving behaviour, however.
In May, an education committee report into teacher recruitment, training and retention recommended that the DfE expanded the behaviour hubs programme “to increase capacity and allow more schools to benefit from this programme, which could also help teacher retention”.
The DfE’s decision to end the scheme is the latest in a string of cost-saving cuts to initiatives launched under previous Conservative governments, including the Latin Excellence Programme, computer hubs and language hubs.
Government tsar Tom Bennett, who leads the behaviour hubs scheme, said: “The behaviour hubs have been a tremendous success, and have helped many hundreds of schools improve their behaviour cultures.
“I hope that in the future the programme can continue in the DNA of new school improvement support packages, especially post-inspection. I think this would work particularly well in conjunction with the new RISE teams.”
