Classroom thugs told: Disrupt school and win an iPod!

In a government campaign against soaring indiscipline, teachers are being told to reward disruptive pupils with prizes and privileges.

Badly-behaved youngsters must be praised five times as often as they are punished or criticised under guidelines unveiled by Education Secretary Alan Johnson.

They can be offered prizes and privileges ranging from non-uniform days and extended breaktimes to CDs, cinema tickets, personal music players and state-of-the-art bicycles.

The scheme has been branded 'absurd'.

scroll down for more

Ministers were accused of 'going soft' on discipline and critics said the guidance would encourage pupils to expect prizes for good behaviour that should be considered the norm.

Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector of schools, said: "As a taxpayer, I would like to know how much this absurd guidance cost - it is a complete irrelevance to the real world."

Robert Whelan, deputy director of the right-leaning think tank Civitas, said: "We don't want to give the pupils the idea that good behaviour is the exception that has to be rewarded at every stage. Good behaviour should be the norm.

"The idea that children are being over-disciplined is nonsense. They are able to get away with blue murder. It's no wonder teachers are flooding out of the profession."

Tory education spokesman David Willetts said: "Children have a very strong sense of fairness. It will be resented if it looks as if bad behaviour brings rewards."

The rules were published as members of the country's biggest teaching union revealed staff were being spat at, kicked, bitten and even urinated on by young children.

Delegates at the National Union of Teachers' annual conference in Harrogate voted to speed up procedures for taking industrial action over bad behaviour.

Bryan Beckingham, a maths teacher from Oldham, told the conference: "When a pupil throws a bottle of urine over a member of staff it is unacceptable."

Sue McMahon, secretary of the NUT's Calderdale branch in West Yorkshire, said: "My members this year have been bitten by a five-year-old, thumped by a six-year-old, kicked by a seven-year-old, spat on by an eight-year-old, punched by a nine-year-old, verbally abused by a ten-year-old, received malicious damage to her car by an 11-year-old, gobbed on by a 12-year-old, told where to go so many times by a 13-year-old that they nearly went there, head-butted by a 14-year-old and received a facial injury so bad by a 15-year-old that it required surgery."

The new government advice states that pupils should be given five rewards for every criticism or punishment.

It says a "rewards/sanctions ratio of at least 5:1 is an indication of a school with an effective rewards and sanctions system".

It goes on to tell teachers that a "positive" approach can improve relations with parents who are "tired" of receiving letters and phone calls about their children's behaviour.

"It has long been established that rewards are more effective than punishment in motivating pupils," the guidelines say.

"By praising and rewarding positive behaviour, others will be encouraged to act similarly."

Schools are told they must avoid lavishing too much praise on well-behaved pupils.

"It is advisable to pay attention to those who have previously been associated with poor behaviour or who have been less likely to meet standards so that it is not always the same ("good") pupils who receive praise and rewards."

Teachers are warned not to impose whole-class detentions or other sanctions which 'punish the innocent as well as the guilty".

And they are told: "Staff should also consider when it might be more appropriate to, rather than impose a sanction, encourage pupils to reflect on the harmful effects of their misbehaviour."

The guidance has been published to accompany new legal powers for schools to discipline pupils.

For the first time, they will be able to punish pupils for misbehaviour outside the school gates, such as abusing members of the public or 'happy slapping' incidents where pupils film bullying on their mobiles.