Friends were telling me of this ADHD brat in their kid’s class. He was ~10yo, and would literally start smashing up the classroom. Whenever this happened the teachers literally couldn’t make any physical contact with him in case his parents screamed assault, so they had to get every other child out of the class and just stand and watch until his parents or the police arrived to deal with him. He’d already be binned by several other schools, but IIRC each school had to ‘try’ for a certain amount of time before they could palm him off on the next.
I can’t help thinking that if he got a tazer to the neck every time he kicked-off he would have learned pretty quickly.
Well those teachers aren't following official government guidelines then:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-reasonable-force-in-schools
What is reasonable force?
1. The term ‘reasonable force’ covers the broad range of actions used by most teachers at some point in their career that involve a degree of physical contact with pupils.
2. Force is usually used either to control or restrain. This can range from guiding a pupil to safety by the arm through to more extreme circumstances such as breaking up a fight or where a student needs to be restrained to prevent violence or injury.
3. ‘Reasonable in the circumstances’ means using no more force than is needed.
4. As mentioned above, schools generally use force to control pupils and to restrain them. Control means either passive physical contact, such as standing between pupils or blocking a pupil's path, or active physical contact such as leading a pupil by the arm out of a classroom.
5. Restraint means to hold back physically or to bring a pupil under control. It is typically used in more extreme circumstances, for example when two pupils are fighting and refuse to separate without physical intervention.
6. School staff should always try to avoid acting in a way that might cause injury, but in extreme cases it may not always be possible to avoid injuring the pupil.
Who can use reasonable force?
• All members of school staff have a legal power to use reasonable force.
• This power applies to any member of staff at the school. It can also apply to people whom the headteacher has temporarily put in charge of pupils such as unpaid volunteers or parents accompanying students on a school organised visit.
When can reasonable force be used?
• Reasonable force can be used to prevent pupils from hurting themselves or others, from damaging property, or from causing disorder.
• In a school, force is used for two main purposes – to control pupils or to restrain them.
• The decision on whether or not to physically intervene is down to the professional judgement of the staff member concerned and should always depend on the individual circumstances.
