Does your school have any problems with discipline? What happens when students step out of line?

Is discipline a problem in your school? What do teachers do when pupils behave badly in your country? A Scottish teenager had very strong opinions about discipline at her school. Read on to find out more.

What is bad behaviour?

UK schools are allowed to discipline pupils who behave badly in various ways. But what exactly is bad behaviour? The following is a list of serious and not-so-serious types of bad behaviour seen by a teacher in a London secondary school.

  • Playing truant
  • Smoking, swearing, hitting, kissing, running, stealing
  • Not doing homework
  • Cheating in exams (copying from secret notes or another pupil)
  • Calling a teacher or another pupil bad names (bullying)
  • Not listening or not paying attention in lessons
  • Wearing unsuitable clothes for school.

Punishments in UK schools

It is illegal for schools to use physical punishments like hitting a student. Here are some of the ways that UK school children can be punished.

  • Exclusion: a pupil is excluded from the school and cannot come back. The pupil has to find a new school or a different method of education (home tutor, special centre for difficult pupils).
  • Suspension: when a pupil is suspended they cannot enter the building or attend lessons until the school has a meeting about their case. Suspension can last from 1 to 45 days in a school term. The school usually gives work to do at home with a tutor (special teacher).
  • Detention: a pupil is detained. This means he or she is asked to stay at school at the end of the school day. The pupil must work for 30 minutes or an hour more before they are allowed to leave the school.
  • Lines: a pupil has to write a sentence many times (100 times) on a sheet of paper: An example sentence: I must not shout in class. This punishment is sometimes given during detention too.

Case study

Freya MacDonald, a 15-year-old pupil from Scotland, made the news in the UK when she refused to accept her school’s punishment. Freya’s family say that she was given detention many times for trivial things such as drinking fizzy drinks in class and coming into school through a fire door. After her secondary school gave her detention for the eleventh time, she went to a lawyer and took legal action against the school. The teenager said that it is not legal to keep a pupil in the school building if the student does not want to be there because Scottish law says that it is illegal to detain children against their will.

According to Scottish law every child has the right to an education. Freya says that repeated detentions disrupted her education and made it difficult for her to learn. She refused to return to school until the school respected her civil rights. She wants the headmaster and her teachers to sign a letter to promise they will respect her rights.

Hundreds of schools in Scotland were told not to use detention as a punishment because of Freya’s legal action.


Many schools in the UK now give parents a home/school contract. This is a contract explaining the school discipline and rules. Parents must sign this document and agree that they accept the school’s rules. They are responsible for their child’s behaviour and must respect the discipline methods used in the school.

Total votes: 601


How does your school deal with discipline problems? Have you ever been punished at school?


Fugasboy214's picture
Fugasboy214 7 November, 2019 - 05:41

I study in Ukraine. We do not have as current penalties for violation. There is abandonment after lessons, sending to the director. That's all

0 users have voted.
Bogdan777's picture
Bogdan777 7 November, 2019 - 19:15

Hey. I also study in Ukraine. There are several punishments in Ukrainian schools:
-Diary note
-Call to parents/Calling parents to school
-Staying after lessons
-Go to the director.

0 users have voted.
Youjiro's picture
Youjiro 5 March, 2019 - 13:15

In my country high school doesn't punished student.because parents has more power then teacher.School teacher couldn't exclusion student to another school.Some school is strict for their behaviour during class.We may not use smart phone and may not drink tea.but most high school is not strict student what they do.Teacher pay attention for school bully and uniform .High school teacher recognize school bully is biggest problem.anyway I had punishment whenever I forget homework.I did extra home work and clean my class room.but High school teacher don't want to do that .some parents argue after punished student.

0 users have voted.
Carollinee45's picture
Carollinee45 12 September, 2017 - 09:34

Punishments in Czech schools:
Here are some of the ways the Czech school children can be punished. When you cheat you get a note because teacher wants to tell your parents what you did. In Czech schools teachers can't hit children. There isn't something like detention. Teachers solve problems in lessons or they give you extra homework.Exlusion isn't typical here either. They try to help students with their problems. We have a different system than in other countries. We can get a worse mark for bad behavior.

16 users have voted.
reborn's picture
reborn 21 May, 2017 - 10:28

When we hit our junior and make our school ashamed, we will be excluded from school
When we do something really bad like saying bad words and hitting, we must write lines (5 pages back to back)
When it's still the first time, the teacher will just call you. The second time, you need to do some punishments. The third time, the teacher will call your parents

I have ever been punished at school because my friends and I played with our phones in the classroom without telling my teacher. So, we had to clean the WHOLE school (restroom too!)

22 users have voted.
Ken's picture
Ken 23 May, 2017 - 09:29

Interesting, reborn, we have a very different culture.
First, we often write lines over 5 pages to remember characters or alphabet, which is not as a punishment but as a training.
Second, we occasionally clean our restroom in rotation, which is not as a punishment but as an ethic.
ᕕ(´ ω` )ᕗ

25 users have voted.
tHundeR's picture
tHundeR 10 May, 2017 - 03:58

Hello, i'm from Russia. Actually, we have punishments in schools, but not the same.
Exclusion (not from the school building, only from classroom, to the end of the lesson)
Notes/call to parents (teachers have talk with your parents, parents talk with about your behaviour.)
Detention ( staying after lesson(s) and repeat the lesson with pupil(s) who was detained.
I'm never been punished at school, thahks god. But my friends was.

27 users have voted.
ccg_01's picture
ccg_01 8 May, 2017 - 18:19

In my school here in Spain teachers have different kind of options to make their pupils obey them. The punishment will be worst depending of your behaviour. If it's just a little mistake they just give out to, but if the student don't change his maners, the teacher usually call to his parents.
When you have had some alerts from you teacher they put you a written warming and when you already have 3 you have a detention for a hall afternoon at school. And finally if you are a really bad pupil and you have done something really bad they suspend you for 1 to 5 days.
So I thing these are some punishments at my school and they are quite effective.

31 users have voted.
Alluha's picture
Alluha 17 January, 2017 - 13:27

I've never been punished at school
My school deal with discipline problems on just one way: suspension
I'm from Brazil, lines is not common where I live !

54 users have voted.
katerini's picture
katerini 14 October, 2016 - 12:55

In my school there aren't that much strict punishments or rules. Of course there are all the common punishments like punishments for" bulling , coming late at school, hitting someone, forget to do your homework or stealling something that it isn't yours . But if you do something like that a lot of times you must talk with the headteacher who is going to call your parents and inform them about your behavior Also teachers are very serious about bulling . If a kid bullies you they will punish it right away. I thing that the rules aren't very strict . I have never been punished at school and I don't realy want to.My opinion is that if every kid follow the rules noοne will have problem!

64 users have voted.
donya123's picture
donya123 4 January, 2016 - 19:04

In my school there are also strict rules, like suspension, detenion and lines. Actually my school punishes pupuil for every mistake. There are strict rule, which we have to follow. My school is very serious about rules. I mean rules like forgetting homework, attending late at class, disrespecting your teacher, but if someone is bullying you the teachers do not care. Even if you talk to them. Yes I have been punished once, but at that time I was too young. I had to write ten pages, which included the sentences that I will never eat during a lesson. so far I remember I have not been punished anymore. I think we should follow the rules and recpect the teacher but we want to be respected to. We pupil have the right to speak up our rights.

85 users have voted.
LolitaFlores's picture
LolitaFlores 24 July, 2015 - 12:49

Hello, I am from Spain, and in my school the punishments are:

-notes to your parents
-lines (200)
-exclusion for one week or more.

Once I had to write 200 lines saying "I mustn't speak in the class when the teacher is explaining something".


75 users have voted.
Tolstaya63's picture
Tolstaya63 24 April, 2015 - 07:03

I'm from Russia.
Some punished in Russian school:
Teacher call perents.
For example:
I've never beer punished at school, thanks good! But my friend was punished. He played traunt. The teacher called his parents :( His parent are very strict. So he was punished by his parents. They didn't allow him to go for a walk in the evening.

82 users have voted.
Yuliponomarenko's picture
Yuliponomarenko 23 April, 2015 - 05:16

I'm from Russia. We are not offen punished at our school for bad behaviour Swearing, playing truant or any other bad behaviour aren't punished strictly. The teacher can call your parents or you'll have a talk with the principle. That's all!

70 users have voted.
IShchu's picture
IShchu 21 April, 2015 - 16:07

I am from Russia. It was once time when I was punished at school. We broke the school door.
There are some punishments at my school. Most effective of them is a serious talk with the headmaster.

70 users have voted.
BruceLee's picture
BruceLee 20 April, 2015 - 09:16

Hello, I'm from Russia. Bad-behaved pupils are usually punished by a talk with a head-master. He talks with a defaulter and decides how to punish that pupil.
I was in the principle's room for a discipline issue. I came to school with my bear through the window:)

69 users have voted.
Englishrocksmysocks's picture
Englishrocksmysocks 20 April, 2015 - 08:38

As for my school (in Russia) we haven't got a lot of serious discipline issues. But what a big problem for us is not wearing school uniform. Usually we are punished by a talk with a head master and sometimes teacher can make a call to our parents. I have never been punished at school.

70 users have voted.
Ken's picture
Ken 19 April, 2015 - 08:06

To be honest, with a group of friends, I got a serious talk with the principal because of picking pomegranates off the tree in school premise and eating them. My mother was occasionally called by my homeroom teacher whenever we were badly behaved such as sucking on a candy, playing balls in the wrong place, climbing up gym mats leaning against the wall, and for lots of trivial things! Like Freya as an innocent kid, I wasn't really sure why not, but I gradually realized that it mattered not in terms of 'discipline' or 'rules', but rather in terms of 'for our better social life'. We're all connected somewhere in the social life where 'to respect' reduces frictions between people. We made a point to break the 'school rules', but now I'm as meek as a lamb, so are my old friends! Trust me! :-)))

74 users have voted.
EarlyBird's picture
EarlyBird 13 April, 2015 - 12:00

I am from Russia. Here we never write lines and detention is not practiced at all. We can get a serious talk with the headmaster. It's not very pleasant!

83 users have voted.
mbelqania's picture
mbelqania 15 February, 2015 - 17:47

my school in georgia is public and there is strict area . we don't cross the rule but when pupil done this headmaster conect to pupil's parents and they try to balans situation . in our scool also is special teachers for disable pupils but here is one big problem , we haven't got comportable enviromen school isn't outfit with modern tecnolojy

73 users have voted.
Bro's picture
Bro 22 January, 2015 - 19:01

My school in Zimbabwe deals with discipline in the following ways:
1. lines 2. detention 3. manual labour 4. headmaster beats you 5. suspension 6. expulsion
it isn't considered strict here in Zimbabwe

70 users have voted.
Little Dragon's picture
Little Dragon 9 December, 2014 - 12:38

Yeah, my school is rather strict. We have CCTVs in every corner of the building (except for the batrooms, of course) and teachers can suddenly appear and catch you red-handed. And almost all the time, their favourite punishments are:
- Making you write some sort of paper saying that you won't do anything mischievous again, then forcing you to get it signed by your parents.
- If you break your "promise" (the very word we use in that paper), depending on how you behave, either you will have to write the paper and ask for your parents' signature once more or the teacher will directly call your parents.
Ironically, my school is notorious for being one of the worst schools in the city. However, that is only a prejudice, for my school is a private school, and it is supposed that only bad students study there. I'm definitely not a bad student, and I've never got punished at school.

80 users have voted.
francesca97it's picture
francesca97it 7 December, 2014 - 10:26

In my country (italy) unfortunately the rules don't respect very much. There isn't the detention and the lines are only for primary school. I think the rules should be more strict.

73 users have voted.
hanies1904's picture
hanies1904 26 October, 2014 - 03:00

I have been punished at school with a ridiculous problem. That day, I didn't learn by heart the lesson at home so when I went to school I started to learn by heart immediately. When the teacher called my name, I started to read correctly. And then, the teacher said that I didn't learn by heart that. I wondered that I read it right so I said that to her. But she didn't listen to me and I had to stood during that lesson. The other students read like me and they had good mark and I had bad mark. Why?

85 users have voted.
Ribana's picture
Ribana 25 October, 2014 - 18:47

In my school in Czech republic we first get warnings, if that doesn't help the teacher writes a letter to our parents, then the headmaster does the same thing, then we are told that we'll be expelled if we make just one small problem and then we are expelled. On primary school it was common that wrote some small notes in books where they write marks and the parents had to sign it. Teachers deal with cheating in the way they can. Some of them don't care about it, some of them give the cheaters worse mark or even the worst one. The discipline is not very good in my class. My classmates often fight, cheat and so on. The teachers usually just don't care. The only thing our teacher hates is coming late. If you come late three times in a month, you get a warning and next time you either come late that month or three times the next mont you get the second punishment etc.

68 users have voted.
tintin607's picture
tintin607 11 September, 2014 - 16:43

Hello, I live in Bangkok Thailand. I attend an all girls school (French convent school) I've been punished once when I forgot my homeworks and books at home. The punishment is always like minus your behavior point. (You've got 100 pt. since the start of semester) If your point is less than 80, you must go to a temple and practice the dharma and must pay all the costs (During your holidays) If you do such a bad things (for my school like broke the school rules about hair , uniform, strike, bully) You may get an exclusion, We have Lines too but not many. Some teachers collect your money (When you're noisy in class of shouting bad words) for the class pot too, but I hate this punishment.

76 users have voted.
Eark's picture
Eark 11 September, 2014 - 14:26

Hi! My name is Eark. Somebody might tells that my school is a very strict school. In my opinion, I don’t think so. I’ve never been punished at school . . . . I know I’m a good student :) I think the punishment is for a group of student who don’t follow the school’s discipline.

74 users have voted.