Teachers union calls for officials who pass judgement on teachers to require classroom experience
Senior officials in local authorities who often have no experience of working in education are making potentially career-ending decisions, a teachers union has said.
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.”
It demands: “When employing key education positions in Local Authorities in Wales, councils must have as a requirement, that candidates have classroom experience.”
NASUWT General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “If teachers no longer have confidence that they can challenge violent and disruptive pupil behaviour, classrooms will descend into chaos.
“Where a teacher has to intervene in order to prevent others being hurt by a violent pupil they should be supported and not condemned for doing so, especially by those who have little or no classroom teaching experience.”
NASUWT National Official Wales Neil Butler said: “Teachers are often damned if they do and damned if they don’t. This year we know of a teacher who was dismissed for not breaking up a fight between pupils and a teacher who was dismissed for breaking up a fight.
“Our members have had to do what any reasonable person would do when faced with a violent situation but then can be hung out to dry by people with no experience of the realities of the classroom.
“The impact on the teacher can be devastating and sometimes career ending, even if they are eventually found to have done nothing wrong.
“As a union we will not hesitate to take action to support our members when people with no experience pass judgement on a teacher having to protect themselves or others against a violent pupil.”
