'It never used to be this way'?

The BBC reporting back in 2008 pointed out that unfortunately,

"Knife-wielding gangs have a long history in the UK."

Doug Sharp, professor of criminal justice at Birmingham City University, was quoted as saying that knives had been a problem for many years, certainly before WW2, in cities such as Glasgow.

In the 1950s Teddy Boys, the original teen rebels, were notorious for their use of flick knives and switchblades.

Gangs of mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a moral panic about British youths.

During the 1970s and 80s young 'football hooligans' engaged in running street battles and mass brawls on the terraces, often using weapons.

Professor Sharp concluded that it was hard to know if things really were worse today as news took longer to get into the public domain and tended to have different focus.

What the news actually reported about teachers and poor behaviour in the classroom was that -

"a survey of 1,001 student teachers, newly-qualified teachers and probationers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, found 49% felt they had not had enough training to deal with challenging behaviour"

While guidance by the Department for Children, Schools and Families lists the types of force teachers can use on children The Association of Teachers and Lecturers survey found that that new teachers are not clear on how to interpret it when faced with difficult situations when violence erupts speedily between pupils, what sort of steps they can take to try to stop the situation from escalating if they have to physically intervene, and how in fact they do that.