Teachers should play games such as bingo, Pictionary and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, in class to engage disruptive pupils, the Government’s behaviour expert indicated yesterday in his long-awaited report.

Sir Alan Steer also suggested that teachers should introduce and enforce disciplinary measures such as forbidding pupils to doodle on books and folders and refusing to mark their work unless it has been written with a fountain pen.

In his report, Sir Alan — a retired secondary school head teacher who conducted a four-year review at the behest of Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary — revived the concept of community responsibility for children’s behaviour.

He said that all adults had to play a part in ensuring that children learnt how to behave properly, particularly parents, with whom schools should cultivate good relationships.

Sir Alan said that satisfactory performance by schools would no longer be considered good enough. Such a rating on behaviour by Ofsted, the school inspectorate, should be a trigger for local authority intervention.

He said that many problems were exacerbated by teachers’ lack of knowledge about their powers, introduced in recent years, to search children for weapons, drugs and alcohol. Teachers must have the confidence to use these powers where necessary.

“Both teachers and pupils have the right to work in an orderly environment. Schools should aim for the highest possible standards of pupil behaviour,” said Sir Alan, whose former school — Seven Kings High School in Ilford, Essex — was named recently by Ofsted as one of a dozen in England to achieve outstanding results against the odds.

He suggested a range of practical measures for improving behaviour. Head teachers and senior staff should patrol corridors and challenge any pupils not in class. They should also carry mobile phones so that they could respond promptly to calls from teachers who needed help with class disturbances.

Giving examples of good practice, Sir Alan’s report said that schools could adopt a no-Biro policy, using fountain pens instead, or start lessons with attention-grabbing games, based on television game shows, such as Blockbusters.

Schools with a reputation for good behaviour could train teachers from those that were struggling. Schools needed to have “moral principles”, Sir Alan said. “Failure to do this will leave a vacuum that can be quickly filled by negative external influences.”

He emphasised the importance of early intervention, and of teachers and other adults not turning a blind eye to bad behaviour outside school. “Children learn good behaviour from watching others and all adults have a responsibility and a part to play in teaching them.” Pupil behaviour was generally good and had improved in the past few years, he said, and he was concerned about the danger of “demonising the young”.

He said that children should have better access to mental health support and that the Government should take steps to address the issue of multiple fixed-period exclusions.

The Tories released figures this week that showed that soaring numbers of pupils were being repeatedly suspended rather than permanently excluded from school.

Mr Balls accepted Sir Alan’s findings wholeheartedly. He said: “It is unacceptable for a pupil to disrupt the learning and teaching of an entire class. Pupils need to know that when certain boundaries are crossed they will have to bear the consequences.”

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the report’s emphasis on the role of parents in promoting good behaviour in children. “In too many cases, the root cause of poor behaviour is a pupil’s home life,” he said.

— Teachers should google themselves to check that pupils are not posting insulting or defamatory material about them on the internet, according to government guidance published yesterday. It said that they should also be wary of putting embarrassing personal material on social-networking sites.

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