No school should force its pupils to walk like the Duke of Edinburgh

And yet for some reason a primary school in London has ruled that all children must go through corridors with their hands clasped behind their backs

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh (JOHN STILLWELL/AFP/GettyImages)

How should children conduct themselves in the corridors or learning? With their hands clasped behind their backs, according to Angela Abrahams, the executive head teacher of St George the Martyr primary school in Holborn who has delighted some parents and outraged others with her new rule.

Well if you’ve ever been in a school (and I have) where the corridors are filled with stampeding, whooping youngsters as soon as a bell rings then you’ll understand where Abrahams is coming from. But it wasn’t like that at St George the Martyr. Almost every parent who has commented insists that the children in this particular school behave sensibly anyway. Rightly or wrongly, Abrahams is being criticised for trying to fix something which wasn’t broken.

School corridors are potentially dangerous places. Of course running should be forbidden. There is also a strong case for insisting that the children walk on the left – maybe in single file, depending on the width of the space. Walking on the left prevents collisions, keeps the pedestrian traffic moving and educates pupils in conventional road use. It may also help to teach the youngest children to distinguish left from right. And that’s all good.

I have serious reservations, though, about the behind-the-back hand clasping. A child who trips and falls over is then likely to bang his or her face because hands aren’t instantly and instinctively available to take the brunt. Surely it’s a health and safety issue? Moreover it’s an unnatural way to walk. Any fitness expert will tell you that your arms need to swing by your sides for natural rhythm and good posture. Why condition these children to believe that they have to adopt a contorted walking mode in order to be well behaved?

It’s being called a “university walk”. Excuse me? Which university imposes this on its students? I’ve never seen it in any of the many universities I’ve visited or in quite “posh” independent schools for that matter. In fact the only person I’ve ever noticed walking with hands clasped behind his back is the Duke of Edinburgh. His choice, I suppose, but there’s no justification for imposing it on a whole school full of children.

So why is this happy, apparently respected school in the heart of central London doing this? Ah yes … discipline. “Discipline” is a strange concept. People get absurdly hung up on what it depends on. You don’t automatically get the behaviour you want by insisting on school uniform, setting hours of homework – or by introducing a weird corridor trudge. You get it by setting an example, treating children with courtesy, being consistent, fair and clear and, quite often, by explaining the reasons for rules.

Kids are rarely unreasonable. Tell them why they need to walk in single file in a narrow passage and they’ll get it and, mostly, conform. In fact you can often ask children to write the school rules themselves and they’ll produce pretty much exactly what you want – and they’ll readily obey them because they’ve done the compiling. But I defy anyone, child or adult, to come up with a convincing reason for having to adopt the Duke of Edinburgh’s walking style.