Quote:
Originally Posted by annesingleton
I'm not saying I agree with what this young person did to his teacher. But if you decide to make a career for yourself working with young people this is the way things work:
Any professional working with young people may not use any form of physical restraint unless they are trained to restrain safely using recognised techniques. It should never be used by one professional in isolation.
Restraint can only be used as a last resort in order to protect either the young person or others from harm. It cannot be used as a punishment or in retaliation.
I fully understand the frustration and anger this teacher must have felt when faced with a disruptive pupil who had thrown milkshake over him. He would have been better dealing with the pupil by removing him from the scene and going through the correct channels, but I expected he reacted instinctively, which is an absolute no - no in such a situation.
The teacher would be fully aware of what he should and should not do when dealing with a disruptive pupil, and whilst I can see the situation from his point of view, his experience and professionalism should have led him to take a different course of action - he now faces the consequences of his own inappropriate behaviour.
And under no circumstances do I condone the actions of the pupil whose behaviour was completely unacceptable - but in this situation the teacher was a professional adult, the pupil was a child.
Some people may say that children and young people today lack discipline and respect and in a lot of ways I agree, but if such behaviour by teachers was allowed, a lot of vulnerable children and young people who deserve more would be at the mercy of professionals who would be free to treat them with aggression for the least misdemeanour.
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Straight from the Health and Social care handbook
A reasonable instinctive reaction although frowned upon should not lead to a sacking, a slap on the wrist, sent for further training perhaps, but most definitely not removal from the job. This is not how safeguarding legislation is meant to be used. (In fact if anyone is at fault it's the school, for not providing restraint training, or enough staff to cope with this kind of eventuality, because the pupil was attempting to cause harm. I'd love to see their risk assessment for dinner times in the canteen)
It's this kind of typical over-reaction by pen pushers who are not on the front lines, just like the school H&S pen pushers who ban conkers and marbles, which is not what Health and Safety legislation is about either.
It's not the legislation that's wrong, its the dipsticks who interpret it through the fear of coffin chasing solicitors and redtop rag headlines who are slowly leading us to anarchy.