Students to Train Teachers in Behaviour Management

A poster on TES Connect forums has described a recent suggestion from her/his Head of Year that students plan and deliver a training session for teachers on behaviour management.

Pupils to train teachers in behaviour management?

The poster states that it has stemmed from students in class being, "particularly vocal about what they perceive to be gross miscarriages of justice (being told to stop talking when they have been chatting all lesson..." I was tempted at first to think the OP was being sarcastic when they said that, until the beginning of the discussion seems to actually think this is a good idea.

The post has been replied to by Tom Bennett, who does not think this is a good idea, and really, no one is going to put it much better than he has when he says, 

"...to empower them to even deliver an INSET to staff is a dreadful inversion of the correct order of authority between children and adults. If you think you're experiencing behaviour problems from them now, then wait until you start to feed the idea that they have the right to even tell us what we need to do. Trust me; this way madness lies."

I'm concerned that there is a growing trend of asking students how teachers should be doing their jobs, and it is very similar to having students on interview panels for jobs, which I recently blogged about: Students Interviewing Teachers for Jobs

I can't imagine that the students will take this task very seriously, and I can imagine the teachers ironically having a hard time managing their behaviour while they are planning the session out.