Teachers call for clarity on assault law

Over-zealous child protection laws blighting teachers' lives, EIS claims as teacher is cleared

News, 30 August 2006

Scotland's largest teaching union has called on MSPs to clarify the law with regard to child protection, after the deputy head at a primary school was cleared of assaulting a pupil.

Simon Simpson was found not guilty of assaulting an 11-year-old boy by dragging him across a diningroom floor. The teacher claimed that he had been trying to get the "aggressive" child, who had previously been suspended from school six times, once for assaulting Mr Simpson, and who had again become agitated shortly after committing another assault, away from other pupils. His version was supported by other witnesses.

Sheriff Charles McFarlane at Glasgow Sheriff Court ruled that in the circumstances what took place did not constitute an assault.

Mr Simpson's solicitor Andrew Gibb said the case raised fresh questions about whether child protection in Scotland had gone too far.

And the Educational Institute of Scotland called on the Scottish Executive to provide new guidance on what teachers could do when faced with unruly pupils. The union says that over-zealously applied laws are making the job of teachers impossible.

Its General Secretary Ronnie Smith said that as the law stood, the only safe approach for teachers was not to touch pupils at all, which was not in anyone's interests. He said that teachers' careers were being blighted because the authorities ran scared every time a complaint, however trivial, was raised.

He added that the situation was undermining good order in schools.

The Executive said there was sufficient guidance in the 2005 handbook "Safe and Well", which states that staff should avoid physical contact unless necessary to protect a child from harm.

Mr Simpson was suspended after the incident but returned at the beginning of term after Glasgow City Council carried out its own investigation.