Alan Francis: "Not all bad behaviour is about trauma"

Tom Rogers
6 days ago
3 min read

In a wide-ranging and at times provocative interview with Teachers Talk Radio today, Alun Francis OBE — Chair of the Social Mobility Commission and Chief Executive of Blackpool and The Fylde College — offered a candid assessment of the state of education, the limitations of current discourse on disadvantage, and what he sees as creeping “mission drift” in schools and colleges.

Francis pulled few punches, calling for a sharper focus on pedagogy and educational outcomes — and less hand-wringing about the broader social context educators often cite when explaining underperformance.

Francis argued that terms like disadvantage, working class, and poverty are “ill-defined and thoughtless,” adding that educational professionals should avoid overgeneralising or assuming causal relationships that the data doesn’t support.

“It’s not true that all poor children do badly. Some do very well. So who are we actually talking about?”

He cited examples of high-achieving demographics — notably Indian and Chinese students — where cultural expectations around effort, community support, and attitudes toward education drive success regardless of income level. His warning? That low expectations and over-diagnosis can contribute to learned helplessness and a “victimhood narrative”, which can actively harm student outcomes.

Critique of 'Therapy Culture' and Mental Health Narratives

One of Francis's more controversial takes came in his critique of what he described as a shift toward “therapy-centre” thinking in education.

“Our job is not therapy. People come to college to learn, and that’s the best therapy we can give them.”

He questioned the growing influence of trauma-informed practice, labelling it “a fad” lacking sufficient evidence, and pointed to international research suggesting that diagnostic labelling (such as ADHD and autism) can sometimes reduce rather than raise expectations of students.

While acknowledging the importance of mental health, he cautioned against overreliance on unevidenced frameworks and diagnoses that may obscure more basic pedagogical or behavioural solutions:

“Not all bad behaviour is about trauma. Some bad behaviour is just because people are young, they like pushing boundaries. That’s human.”

Snake Oil and the Rise of Education Fads

Francis also criticised what he sees as a proliferation of “snake oil” consultants and providers selling questionable interventions to schools under the banner of wellbeing, behaviour, or inclusion.

“There’s always people with theories about how they’re going to come in and transform behaviour… They walk in, charge some money, leave nothing behind — and they’ve got no skin in the game.”

He cited past education fads, including the infamous Building Schools for the Future designs in Knowsley, as cautionary tales where theory outpaced evidence — with disastrous results.

On SEND and Rising Diagnoses

Turning to the rise in SEND diagnoses and exam access arrangements, Francis urged more scrutiny of both process and consequence. He noted that at his own college, over half the exam rooms for English and maths were now used for students sitting alone due to anxiety.

“We’ve got to ask, what’s driving all this? Is this support — or are we normalising underperformance?”

He also warned against assumptions that greater diagnosis automatically leads to better outcomes, referencing long-term studies that question the impact of interventions like Ritalin.

Focus on Effort, Not Labels

Throughout the interview, Francis repeatedly returned to the value of effort, high expectations, and structured pedagogy as the most effective tools for promoting social mobility.

“Diagnoses and disadvantage labels might help policy people. But in the classroom, what matters is what you do with the individual in front of you. Not their background, not their label — their effort.”

London vs Coastal and Post-Industrial Towns

Asked why London outperforms other areas on social mobility metrics, Francis pointed to stronger institutions, better teacher recruitment, and more culturally embedded family aspirations — particularly among immigrant communities.

By contrast, he noted that coastal and post-industrial areas like Blackpool and Oldham have remained at the bottom of education outcomes tables for decades, suggesting deeper structural and cultural issues that go beyond funding or policy.