Officials who pass judgement on teachers must have classroom experience

Senior officials in local authorities who often have no experience of working in education are making potentially career-ending decisions about the use of reasonable force by teachers to protect themselves and other pupils.

Members of NASUWT  - The Teachers’ Union are expected this weekend to call for directors of education and child protection officers to be required to have classroom experience if they are going to pass judgement on teachers.

At the NASUWT Cymru Annual Conference, being held in Llandudno, members will debate a motion around the issue of the use of force by teachers against violent pupils to defend themselves and to protect other pupils.

The motion raises concerns that the protection under the law over the use of reasonable force relies on the interpretation of the word ‘reasonable’ and “that those who judge what is ‘reasonable’ in Local Authorities on the whole are not, and have never been, teachers.”