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Security in School - Post Six of "Ten Reforms That Might Just Work"

In any other working situation where staff are subject to behaviour like that of students, there would be security. There will be a strict behaviour policy also, for example, as seen in accident and emergency units, council one stop shops and pubs. Staff have the right to work without experiencing abuse, and if this rule is breached, they are asked to leave. When they don’t, security are called.

Would this work in schools? I know in some schools with EBD units there are members of staff that can be called to remove a student from a classroom and take them to that separate unit. Is that something that should be common place? Should they be used in the same way as a security guard would be?

I realise that teaching is not like a pub: the students have to be there and have to be taught. In that sense it is similar to police work, in that refusing to offer the service is not an option so security guards employed to ‘throw people out’ are also not an option.

I think that it is also similar to care work, in that you are trying to do what is best for someone that you have to look after and don’t have the option of withdrawing that care. You couldn’t exactly employ someone to physically force an old person in a nursing home to stay in the dining room.

However, teachers are expected to physically keep students in the classroom and are disciplined when they cannot do that, despite not having any restraining powers of that type. Perhaps it needs to be recognised that this can only be achieved with security guards and to drop that expectation.


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