Rules on classroom discipline to allow ‘physical restraint’
Teachers will be encouraged to restrain disruptive pupils physically under plans unveiled by the UK Conservative Party. This from 2008.
Let teachers restrain
pupils physically, say Tories
TEACHERS will be encouraged
to restrain disruptive pupils physically under plans unveiled by David Cameron
yesterday.
The Conservative leader
said that in an attempt to improve behaviour in classrooms he would change the
law to allow teachers to intervene physically to search pupils or stop them
leaving the classroom. Mr Cameron said he would advocate “grabbing” pupils who were
misbehaving although he stressed he did not wish corporal punishment to return
to Britain’s schools.
The proposal forms part of
a detailed plan drawn up by the Conservatives to restore classroom discipline,
which the party says is crucial in improving standards.
Mr Cameron said: “It’s
about giving schools the power to control discipline, to bring order to the
classroom and giving them the independence to do that as strong, independent
institutions.”
He insisted that the
proposals would “help put the teacher back in charge of the classroom” and that
it was “acceptable” for teachers to feel they could “sometimes be physical”
with pupils.
He said: “You have got to
be able, sometimes, if a child is tearing down a corridor, to put out your hand
and grab them. We have got into a situation where we are treating children like
adults and treating adults like children. I think we do need a restoration of
common sense.
“That means a lot of these
no touching policies have got to go. But, you do need quite strict controls,
you do need rules.”
According to the
Conservatives, teachers complain regularly that they cannot enforce detentions
and other punishments because children simply leave the room.
If elected, the Tories
would change the law to allow physical intervention by teachers who would not
be investigated for “reasonable behaviour”.
A recent study from
Manchester University found that more than half of schools have introduced
“no-touch” policies amid fears that teachers will be subject to legal action
accusing them of assaulting pupils if they intervene.
The Conservatives will also
give head teachers the power to ban disruptive items such as mobile phones from
being brought into schools. At present, teachers have few powers to search
pupils unless they consent and this would also change, Mr Cameron said.
Teachers who reduce
classroom violence and disruption may be rewarded with special pay bonuses.
However, teachers’ leaders are concerned that the proposals could lead to
classroom incidents escalating if staff become physical with pupils. The new
discipline plans form a key part of Conservative policies that would also make
it easier for schools to exclude or punish disruptive pupils.
Mr Cameron and Michael
Gove, his shadow education secretary, want to scrap the right of parents to
appeal independently if their children are excluded. There are more than
140,000 pupils suspended each year from secondary schools for persistent
disruption.
Jim Knight, the schools
minister, said: “David Cameron’s plans are unfunded, unworkable and would make
the problem worse.”
As reported in The
Daily Telegraph, 8 April 2008.
Picture credit: Kernled.
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