New laws against 'am I bovvered' kids

Updated 13.21 Fri Apr 13 2007
Keywords: Catherine Tate, Alan Johnson, Teachers

New laws against the "am I bovvered?" generation of unruly schoolchildren have been introduced.

The Education Secretary, Alan Johnson, said many disruptive youngsters were influenced by the Lauren character in The Catherine Tate Show.

"These new powers are aimed at unresponsive and aggressive kids whose attitude owes much to the 'am I bovvered?' character made famous by Catherine Tate" - Alan Johnson

But, he said they would be brought back into line with new punishments which are set to come into law.

Teachers will be able to use "reasonable force" with aggressive youngsters, confiscate mobile phones and hand out Saturday detentions.

"These new powers are aimed at unresponsive and aggressive kids whose attitude owes much to the 'am I bovvered?' character made famous by Catherine Tate," Mr Johnson said.

The measures, introduced under last year's Education and Inspections Act, are the first major change to teachers' guidelines on discipline for a decade.

Teachers complained that previously it was not always clear that they had the law on their side.

Mr Johnson continued: "Most kids are well-behaved in school, but we want to take action against those who are consistently rude, disruptive and disrespectful."

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.