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TRIGGERnometry · 3 min · Oct 23, 2026
Why Francis Foster says classroom disruption blocks learning
Francis Foster
Francis Foster says a few disruptive pupils can derail lessons when schools avoid addressing behavior.
The episode’s best minutes
Full analysis- 5:34Why Winston Marshall thinks France faces prolonged instability8 min
- 20:35Why Tom Slater sees anti-French sentiment as a shared thread3 min
- 36:44Why Francis Foster says classroom disruption blocks learning3 min
- 3 more moments in the full episode
“And what happens is because teachers and the educational establishment and the government are loath to deal with those kids, they become indulged.”
Francis Fosterat 37:12 · TRIGGERnometry
Takeaways
- He estimates about three disruptive pupils in each class.
- He says indulging disruption sends a message to other pupils.
- He argues gaps in history learning leave a vacuum for slogans.
About this segment
Francis Foster says a few disruptive pupils can derail lessons when schools avoid addressing behavior. He argues the resulting gaps in learning leave room for slogans to take hold.
Francis Foster, Host
Konstantin Kisin, Host
From “France Riots - Are We Next? - Off The Fence”, Oct 23, 2026. Watch the full episode
Thanks. We'll look at and fix what's off.
Transcript
Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.
- 36:49
a lot of this comes down to behavior here's the thing it comes down to behavior in schools and it's something that I talked about in my book and nobody ever really talks about with education but the majority of lessons in education simply don't happen as they should because there is a small cohort of about three kids in every class which disrupt which stop the learning from happening. And what happens is because teachers and the educational establishment and the government are loath to deal with those kids, they become indulged. And they are actually treated far better than the kids who turn up, work every day and actually do the work. And that sends a very powerful message to the rest of the children. And by the way, this happens in every single state school up and down the country. And I bet it happens in France and right the way through
- 37:46
Europe which is this if you behave badly if you are disruptive nothing will happen for you and in fact you will be indulged and this disruption means that children can't learn they're not learning when in any lesson and they're not learning in history most most pertinently of all which creates a vacuum which means that all of this stuff all of this nonsense all of these slogans and the palestinianism is then allowed to fill the vacuum i think first and foremost i think constantine is right i think it comes down to education i think we need to revamp education i think we actually need to tackle the unions it is not acceptable that the national education union the biggest education union in the uk by the way by a country mile is saying things like reform or a far-right political party. And not only that, they recognize Palestine. We really
- 38:47
need to have this conversation. Because if the biggest education union in the country is saying that, just imagine what's going on with its members and with the fringes of its members. So we really need to tackle education. And this needs to be a priority. Because if we don't, This will only get worse. And I think what happens is, first of all, we need to be honest and actually have an honest conversation about it, because our elites, unfortunately, are unable to even do that.
- 39:19
And if you're not going to have the conversation at the start and talk about every facet of the problem, you really aren't going to be able to find a solution at the end of it.