NO-ONE wants their well-behaved children to have their education disrupted by the unruly behaviour of fellow pupils in the classroom.

Teachers, too, should not be expected to have their own careful lesson preparation thrown out of the window because they have to focus on controlling a few troublemakers who are effectively stopping the majority from being able to learn.

But merely removing the yobs from classes is only ever going to provide short-term respite unless something effective is done to make them see the error of their ways.

And it seems unfair that until very recently, the cost in time and money of dealing with such wayward youngsters has fallen entirely on the public purse.

That’s why it is good to hear that fewer temporary and permanent exclusion orders have been handed out across Lancashire in the past year.

In Blackburn with Darwen, the number has actually been halved, year on year.

The success is put down to the creation of ‘parental contracts.’ The surprise is that parents weren’t forced to take responsibility for how their offspring conduct themselves long before now.