Teachers often struggle to manage seriously challenging behaviour in their classrooms. Schools need to put in place mechanisms for supporting and equipping teachers with skills to deal with anti-social behaviour. Institution-level Support Teams (ILSTs) can run ongoing staff development programmes to equip teachers with such skills. ILSTs should also develop community networks to support teachers and parents to deal with violence and anti-social behaviour. The South African Policy Service and the Department of Social Development can become part of the network established by the District-based Support Team to support schools in this regard.

A key first step is for a school to introduce a whole school programme to reflect on how welcoming the school is and to what extent some children are marginalised or alienated.

Click here for Guidelines on How to become a welcoming school.