WHY is it we always seem to remember the naughty pupils from school rather than the conscientious children who buried themselves in their work?

There was always a handful in my year at school who would find themselves outside the head of year's office.

While there were some who were completely unruly, the majority was kept in line thanks to discipline and detentions.

We all knew what was right and wrong, what was accepted and what wasn't.

Everyone can remember the teacher who kept pupils in line. The one who made sure the school corridors were tidy, the uniforms were neat, the hair was combed and the work was done.

In my case at Nunnery Wood High School that teacher was Miss Jackson. She had a way, unlike many others, of making you want to behave when you passed her office door.

And, when the day of her retirement came and the pupils lined the entrance to the school to wave goodbye, there was hardly a dry eye in sight. Why? Because we all respected her and what she did for the school. Who else would keep those nasty 14-year-old boys in order?

But now it seems that we've lost too many Miss Jacksons to retirement. Teachers are battling like never before to keep unruly youngsters in line.

It has even reached the stage where they don't want pupils who have been expelled for violent or disruptive behaviour to be allowed back in their classrooms.

England's largest teaching union, the National Union of Teachers, has argued that teachers have a right to strike if ordered to have unruly youngsters back in their class.

And the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers has joined its larger rival in calling for the scrapping of Government targets to reduce expulsions by a third by 2002.

The NASUWT unanimously backed a resolution, at its annual conference in Jersey, demanding the abolition of local education authority panels.

It also demanded an end to the fines imposed on schools when they eject pupils whose behaviour they see as beyond the pale.

Last year, Ministers issued revised guidance to appeals panels which they said made clear that headteachers had the right to eject violent or persistently disruptive pupils from their schools.

But both the classroom teachers' and headteachers' unions say the Government has still not done enough to tackle the problem.

That claim was rejected by Estelle Morris, the school standards minister, when she spoke to NASUWT members.

She said Labour had put far more money into dealing with bad behaviour since coming to power than the previous government.

The union recently won a High Court case brought by the parents of a boy expelled from a school in Lewisham, south London.

He was reinstated by governors on appeal, but NASUWT members at the school refused to teach him, forcing the headteacher to make other arrangements and the judge refused to order them to take him back.

Tony Hardman, the NASUWT's president, said that as he moved around the country he was bombarded with complaints about violent and disruptive pupils.

Even in socially advantaged areas of the country, teachers are witnessing a dramatic deterioration in pupil behaviour, he said.

Hardly a day goes by without an incident of outrageous behaviour. This isn't a case of whinging teachers.

In 1999/2000 there were 109 permanent exclusions in Worcestershire compared to 128 the year before.

Eighty three per cent or more than four in five of permanent exclusions were due to physical assaults on pupils and staff, verbal abuse of staff and unco-operative behaviour.

Nine of the pupils were excluded for damage to property, three for indecent behaviour, three for dealing in drugs, two for theft, one for verbal abuse of pupils, and one for possession of drugs.

Meanwhile, in 1999/2000 there were 2,078 fixed term exclusions, compared to 1,152 the year before.

Teachers should not have to cope with violent pupils and it seems fair that heads should make the final decision.

Of course, if a child is excluded from a school it can greatly affect their future prospects. But we must also consider the rest of the children in the class. Their education is being hindered if a pupil is disrupting a class.

The Government must work with its teachers so that the best solutions are reached.