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A behaviour lead has expressed concern that behaviour hubs are being disbanded “without any other lever” to replace them.

The hubs see high-performing schools and trusts working with schools facing challenges with behaviour and were launched under the previous government in 2021 with £10 million in funding.

The Department for Education has previously confirmed that behaviour hubs will end in March, but not how or whether their work will continue in another form.

Sufian Sadiq, director of talent and teaching school at Chiltern Learning Trust, a multi-academy trust hub in the programme, told trusts attending a Tes event this morning: “The team within the behaviour hubs has been disbanded.

“A number of those colleagues that were seconded from schools have gone back into schools from 6 January.”

The hubs are being phased out with “no communication to suggest they are moving forward”, he told delegates at today’s Tes event in Birmingham focusing on behaviour.

Mr Sadiq said he understood the Labour government had to make difficult financial decisions, but expressed “concern” that the DfE was “taking that lever away without having any other lever”.

He added: “I cannot see what else there is going to be in place to help improve behaviour at scale in the system.”

He praised the programme’s “overall premise” of giving a platform to “some really good schools that have managed to improve behaviour in really challenging contexts”.

Since the pandemic, schools have reported increasing challenges with behaviour. More than three-quarters of teachers said pupil misbehaviour stopped or interrupted teaching last year, government data showed.

Exclusion and suspension rates have also risen since the pandemic - and increased by a third in the autumn term of 2023-24.

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An evaluation of the behaviour hubs programme published last year found that pupils did not report significant changes before and after the introduction of the hubs.

However, staff reported feeling more supported after the behaviour hubs programme than before.

Behaviour tsar is slated to end at the end of this month.

Behaviour ‘not fixable’ by schools alone

Also speaking at the event today, Chris Paterson, co-CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation, said the government’s role in behaviour is to create the wider incentives and context to allow schools and trusts to tackle behaviour themselves.

Julie McCulloch, senior director of strategy, policy and professional development at the Association of School and College Leaders, told trusts that many of the drivers for increased behaviour challenges “are not fixable within schools”.

She pointed to the impact of poverty, insecure housing and reduced parental support as things that need to be tackled to help schools address behaviour challenges.

Education Policy Institute CEO Natalie Perera said there was a need to think about diverting additional funding to support children in persistent poverty.

How trusts are approaching behaviour

Also at the event, leaders discussed effective approaches to behaviour in their own trusts.

Ebor Academy Trust CEO Gail Brown said her trust has focused on building relationships with families even before pupils start school and also invested in pastoral support.

However, she added that the more difficult financial landscape for schools in recent years and the loss of support staff who may have filled pastoral roles means that they are now investing in training for teachers to help them gain confidence in building relationships with parents.

“Covid is not over,” warned Keziah Featherstone, executive headteacher at the Mercian Trust.

Ms Featherstone added that the system must move towards inclusion rather than just punishing students.

Amy Leonard, director of Denford Associates, also advised trust leaders on how best to communicate with parents.

When asked if they had experienced an increase in parental complaints, most of the attendees raised their hands.

The NAHT school leaders’ union has warned today that more than four in five of its members have suffered some form of abuse from parents in the past year.

The DfE has been contacted for comment.

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