What a pleasure it was to read the following sentence in a recent Ofsted report: "the students are polite, courteous and helpful to visitors".

This about a school where, just four years earlier, the inspectors had noted "bad language is not uncommon around the school".

The school in question is The Ridings which this week received a glowing Ofsted report which marked its transition from the so-called "school from Hell" to a school rightly proud to have been judged "a good and improving school".

Of course, the school has done rather more than just curb bad language in its classrooms and corridors. That alone would be a limited achievement.

But I suspect reducing swearing is inextricably linked with the wider drive to improve standards of discipline, teaching and learning.

Exclusions

I noticed the inspectors' judgements on swearing at The Ridings because it came in the same week as a school in Surrey hit the headlines for temporarily excluding some 60 boys for swearing.

This prompted a debate about whether or not swearing is acceptable not only in schools but elsewhere.

To be fair to those parents who complained about the exclusions, their point was more about the severity of the punishment than about the acceptability of swearing in school.

However, some have rushed to defend the use of swear words, arguing that they are more common currency today and they are part of the richness and variety of the English language.

There is probably something of a generation gap here. While some youngsters may feel they are using unexceptional language in and around school, many adults will find the words aggressive and even a form of challenge.

I know there is a real risk of sounding Colonel Blimpish about this. As we grow older we do tend to forget the things we did when we were younger.

Do you do it...?

Let us also look at the plank in our own eye. I confess to swearing. I tend to do it when I am angry. I believe that is more acceptable than the constant, casual use of bad language which upsets me as much for its laziness as its offensiveness.

Placard on a student anti-fees march

But these things are subjective. A younger colleague takes the opposite view: She believes swearing is worse when used in anger because it is more frightening and aggressive.

This difference of view could go some way to explaining the problem of swearing in schools. If some people swear because they regard it as an unexceptional, indeed almost matey use of language, while others use it to express anger, you can begin to see why it is difficult to reach agreement on the appropriate punishment for bad language in schools.

Perhaps it also makes a difference whether the swearing is directed at a teacher or just used within their hearing.

Sporting expletives

I know it makes a difference to me on the sports field. When I play hockey I regard team-mates swearing at me (usually something to do with how on earth did I manage to miss the goal again) as unexceptional. But when I umpire I regard it as totally unacceptable for a player to swear at me.

Football manager Billy Davies's language upset rivals

So I have every sympathy for teachers who expect to be able to discipline a student who swears at them.

But what if the students were swearing amongst themselves as they walked down the corridor? They are not disrupting a lesson, they are not challenging authority - unless they are doing it deliberately loudly knowing it is against the rules - and they are only doing what many adults do in the workplace.

Although I would still find this unacceptable (just as I would if I heard my own children swearing), would it be right to impose my views on others? This is where policy regarding public places becomes a more difficult issue.

Take football grounds for example. As a season-ticket holder at the Premiership's finest club (Ipswich Town, since you ask), I have to endure the particularly vile language of a couple of young men who, unfortunately, sit a couple of rows behind me.

This is not the usual low-level swearing in frustration at a poor offside decision but the most unpleasant, foul and shrill language directed at our own team's players.

Dilemma

However hard I try to ignore it, I find this impairs my enjoyment of the game, particularly if I have one of my children with me.

Like most football grounds, there are signs warning supporters against the use of "foul and abusive language". Yet the stewards do nothing.

Should I turn round and ask them to change their language? Should I tip off a steward? Or should I stop being so wet?

A similar dilemma occurs in schools. If those swearing are not intending to be offensive or to challenge, should we try to curb them because it offends us?

It is not an easy one to call.

Consideration

But to go back to The Ridings School: While no-one would argue that everything got better because they clamped down on swearing, surely the decline in bad language was part of the overall improvement in discipline.

Talking to students there about the recent changes in the school, one common theme emerged: They all said the school was "more friendly" and that the teachers felt like their friends too.

It seems to me a friendly atmosphere is the result, not specifically of a curb on swearing, but on greater consideration for others.

Being considerate means not unnecessarily, or unintentionally, offending others and being aware of the impact of your actions and words on others.

That, I believe, is the best argument for curbing bad language in schools, in the office or at the football stadium.