Formal vs informal discipline

In every school, whether the most selective independent or the slummiest state comprehensive, classroom discipline is what everyone notices. The good teachers are the ones with effective classroom discipline, give or take.

That leads some headmasters to set out formal discipline policies or frameworks. Discipline is so important, the thinking goes, that we need to actively manage and control it. So there are all sorts of systems put in place, at a minimum there's usually a formal "detention" process. The detentions are then recorded. That's the point at which parents start to get concerned, if their child has a bad disciplinary record, that might affect setting, or choice of secondary school. So the school tends to lose the support of parents the more formal it makes it's disciplinary procedures.

There's also a danger of creating a court-room atmosphere, especially with suspensions and expulsions. If a sanction is reversed, that fatally undermines whoever imposed it, not something you want in a school.

Informal disciplinary measures are better. They work for the particular teacher and in his hands. A children tend to respond better. Obviously you can't have informal suspensions or expulsions, but there is no need to overformalise the detention procedure.