Headteachers should be taking the parents of persistently naughty children to court, the schools minister said today.
Vernon Coaker urged heads to issue orders through the courts under which parents must improve their children's behaviour or face fines of up to £1,000.
So-called parenting orders can force mothers and fathers to attend parenting classes and demand they impose rules on their children, such as going to school on time and not drinking alcohol.
The orders were introduced with great political flourish in 2004, but to date no school has resorted to obtaining one.
A Bill going through the House of Lords will require parents to sign behaviour contracts – known as home school agreements – once their child is accepted at a school. If the contract is broken, schools can apply to the courts for a parenting order.
Coaker said it was time parents were held "accountable" for their children's behaviour.
"It is is a vital step in the right direction for heads to have the power to take court action against parents whose children continue to behave badly, disrupt lessons and impact on other pupils. I want to see more schools using parenting orders when home school agreements fail. It is time for parents to be held accountable for their child's behaviour."
The schools secretary, Ed Balls, said heads did not feel confident that the courts would support them if they applied for a parenting order.
The government's behaviour tsar, Sir Alan Steer, said in a report published today – Delivering the Behaviour Challenge – that it was important parents and teachers knew parenting order were "a possibility".
But John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said parenting orders were a last resort. The best way to improve the behaviour of a persistently naughty pupil was to co-operate with the child's parents.
"I welcome support from the governement to uphold high standards of behaviour, but schools know that this is only possible with the co-operation of parents and this co-operation can't be forced, it has to be won through careful discussion and negotiation. This is why schools are reluctant to go down the legal route."
