THEY MAY LOOK like little angels in their pint-sized uniforms, but an increase in bad behaviour among primary school pupils – including the very youngest children – is causing havoc in some classrooms.

Teachers are reporting instances of yelling, screaming, abusive language and violence from children barely old enough to write their own name. While only a minority of pupils resort to these levels of aggression, the impact of their behaviour is felt not only by the teacher but by the whole class. It disrupts learning and leaves many youngsters – sometimes including the instigators themselves – distraught and confused.

A recent report from the Department of Education in the North highlighted the issue, revealing that between 2002 and 2007 a total of 131 children aged five and under were suspended. Teaching unions claim that this statistic is merely the tip of the iceberg, and that many incidences of disruptive behaviour go unreported.

There’s a similarly worrying picture in the Republic: although suspensions in primary schools are dwarfed by those in the post- primary sector (where the rate is 20 times higher), the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) says incidents of challenging behaviour in primary schools are on the rise across the country.

“The behaviour of seriously disruptive children is a cause of genuine concern to teachers,” says John Carr, general secretary of the INTO, who said other children are losing out on teacher time as a result of bad behaviour.

Teaching unions say that factors which have an impact on behaviour within the education system include a lack of resources to provide for active, hands-on learning; inadequate diagnosis and assessment of children’s needs; and a lack of back-up from health services. But, according to Carr, it’s our large class sizes that really exacerbate the problem.

“In the modern primary school, teachers are expected to focus on children as individuals, but this cannot be done when we have classes of more than 30 pupils,” he says. “Last year, the Government promised year-on-year class- size reductions. This year the decision was taken to increase class sizes. It’s time the Government realised that children and the curriculum have changed and that smaller, not larger, classes are required.”

FEW WOULD DISAGREE with Carr’s assertion that it is unacceptable for children to be deprived of a quality education by the actions and behaviour of a minority of pupils. But why the increase in wild and unruly behaviour among really young children in recent years? What disparate factors result in an angry five-year-old effing and blinding at his teacher?

George Mawhinney, a primary school principal from Co Down, with 31 years of teaching experience, says: “It does seem to be a societal problem, and those of us in education are in the frontline of dealing with that. Children with emotional and behavioural difficulties come through from the nurseries, and many more pre-school children are seeing the educational psychologist than they were 10 years ago.

“Why? That’s harder to answer. A lot of it is to do with parenting. Years ago, parents and children had a much wider support network, a closer relationship with extended family. Society has changed now, and we’re seeing more and more young, lone, isolated parents.”

But Mawhinney is keen to emphasise that a disciplinary approach is the last resort.

“It’s a cry for help from the schools,” he says. “We don’t want to suspend four- and five-year- olds. Ultimately, we want what’s best for the child, and all of us – teachers and parents – are trying to do that.”

Yet it’s the small but significant number of parents who themselves adopt an indifferent or even aggressive approach to their own children’s misbehaviour that frustrate teaching staff. Calling for action on unruly young pupils at last year’s INTO conference in Kilkenny, president Angela Dunne insisted that it was time for emphasis to be placed on the role of parents in the management of their children’s behaviour.

“For too long this small minority of parents have failed to accept that they have any responsibility for the behaviour of their children when they are in school,” she said, adding that “a full class of primary-school pupils should not be held to ransom by a single Bugsy Malone”.

DEALING WITH THAT one small Bugsy Malone may be challenging enough, but what happens when a parent’s own behaviour matches or even exceeds that of their child?

Patricia, a mother of a six-year-old girl, was disturbed when her daughter came home from school reporting that a boy in her class had thrown his chair at the teacher. But she was even more appalled when her child emerged sobbing at the school gate the next day, having witnessed the young reprobate’s mother burst into the classroom and berate the teacher for her treatment of the boy, using foul and aggressive language.

“Tessa is a sensitive child, and we’ve brought her up to respect other people,” Patricia says. “What kind of message is it sending to her when, in the space of two days, she sees a classmate physically assault the teacher, and then the child’s mother making this obscene verbal assault? It left Tessa really shaken and fearful of going to school.”

The glib assumption is that children who “act out” aggressively or disruptively come from disadvantaged, impoverished backgrounds. But former primary-school teacher Janine McCarten says that’s not always the case.

“I’ve seen plenty of instances of extremely well-off young children, who have every material want satisfied, who nonetheless hold the whole class to ransom with appalling behaviour like throwing items or hiding under the desk,” she says.

“Quite frankly, these youngsters are spoilt. Because they are never told ‘no’, they haven’t learned to socialise in a responsible way. So when they’re asked to do something they don’t want to do, like tidy up or stop talking, they react violently.”

Whatever the reasons for the misbehaviour, inside every red-faced little tyrant spouting vitriol, there’s usually a distressed, confused or unhappy child.

As the number of school-rage incidents continues to rise, the fraught question of how to balance that troublesome child’s needs with those of his more biddable schoolmates will only grow in urgency.