Teachers could soon be allowed to use ‘reasonable force’ to crackdown on pupils’ bad behaviour
A CRACKDOWN on bad behaviour in schools may see teachers allowed to use "reasonable force" on pupils, a new report claims.
Under harsher new rules, ministers could allow teachers more powers to confiscate unruly students' mobile phones and give same-day detentions.
Schoolchildren armed with killer blades threatened to knife teachers and fellow students.
Headteachers could now get more powers to suspend and expel disruptive schoolchildren, according to a leaked Department of Education (DfE) document seen by The Guardian.
The DfE paper says: "This government backs headteachers to improve behaviour and will support them to create safe and disciplined school environments.
CLASSROOM PUNISHMENT
"We will back heads to use powers to promote good behaviour including sanctions and rewards; using reasonable force; to search and confiscate items from pupils (including mobile phones); impose same-day detentions; suspend and expel pupils; ban mobile phones."
Corporal punishment was banned in state schools in 1986, and in private schools in 1998.
But a DfE document published in 2016 says teachers can use reasonable force to stop students committing an offence, injuring themselves or damaging property.
It can also be used to maintain order and discipline in the classroom.
Last week, figures obtained by 5 News showed 1,144 knife possession offences were committed in schools in England and Wales last year.
KNIFE HORROR
The number of offences more than doubled over the past five years, among the 36 forces in England and Wales that provided comparable data, soaring from 372 in 2014 to 968 last year.
In Manchester, an 11-year-old, who had replaced a highlighter nib with a blade, told another pupil: "Listen to me or else I'll stab you."
And ex-teacher David Simmon said he was confronted by a six-year-old brandishing a knife while working in a north London school.
He said: "He was threatening other staff members and saying that he was going to stab them so I've gone over trying to calm this child down."
"He's then said he's going to stab me and kill me."
The proposals in the leaked DfE document will be spearheaded by a £3.5 billion funding announcement and plans to increase teachers' basic pay to £30,000 by 2022.
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Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner called the leaked paper's claims "concerning".
The DfE said priorities for the new Secretary of State, Gavin Williamson, would be announced "in due course".
A spokesman said: "We do not comment on leaks. We will announce further information on our domestic priorities in due course."
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