There doesn’t really seem to be much explanation as to why a teacher got taken to court for accidentally bashing a pupil with a Pritt Stick. This case along with the Peter Harvey case, where Harvey was acquitted for hitting a pupil with a dumb-bell after severe provocation, shows that teachers are being unfairly victimised by pupils, parents and an overly litigious system. It is, in part, leading to a break-down in discipline because pupils feel that they can “get away with anything”. This said, it is the disturbed pupils from disturbed backgrounds who are overwhelmingly the perpetrators. More needs to be done to address what’s going on at home: parents need to be more accountable for their children’s actions. They also need to be supported. Programmes like Save The Children’s FAST programme are addressnig these issues as well.

I was speaking on GMTV today about the issue. They were inundated with emails about the case and the overall issue of discipline in schools.