UK School IT Budgets to be spent on CCTV's within Schools.

News 05 10 2009: UK Teacher guilty of assault.

Michael Becker (62) a teacher described as an 'exemplary' for 31 years has been found guilty of assault after removing a pupil from his classroom after claiming he told the boy to stop telling a racist joke up to four times before asking him to leave the class but the boy refused. Magistrates heard Becker grabbed the boy with one hand on his sweatshirt collar and the other on the waistband of his trousers and carried him out. Mr Becker said suggestions that he hit the child's head on the floor or held him by the ankles were 'preposterous'.

The boy denied being repeatedly told not to tell the joke and claimed Becker had dangled him by the ankle on the way to the cupboard. The boy said 'He came over, picked me up and opened the classroom door and hung me upside down and then threw me in the cupboard.' Another member of staff, who witnessed the youngster being carried out of the classroom, said the pupil appeared to want to tell the joke but Becker told him to be quiet.

But Becker was told by magistrates on Friday that he was guilty as none of his evidence amounted to a defence. Magistrates told him: 'We do not believe the pupil at any time was held by the ankles or dropped on the floor’ - although it amounts to battery and you are guilty as charged.'

 

Obviously the Judge in this case has quite rightly “identified failure” by a Schools Management in not carrying out sufficient “risk assessment” as to its Employees in having no defense against accusations/allegations from others within the said environment. Is the Management in breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for not recognising that protectionalistic measures (welfare) be necessary such as CCTV equipment etc within Schools acting as a defense mechanism?.

 

Judging by Old News the Government is seemingly spending hand-over-fist in a recession to meet Green House Gas (GHG) carbon reduction targets while cutting back on Education budgets to rebalance the overall revenue equation – Staff cuts reducing carbon?.

 

OLD News:

12 02 2009 School refit plan £10bn over budget

The Government's ambitious programme to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />England is up to £10 billion over budget and almost two years behind schedule, a damning National Audit Office (NAO) report has concluded. It concludes: "Original expectations of how quickly schools could be built were overly optimistic. Partnerships for Schools (PfS) will find it very challenging to include all 3,500 schools in Building Schools for the Future (BSF) by 2020."

The report said: "The majority of the increase is because the Department has increased the scope of the programme and has agreed to provide additional funding for the inclusion of Academies, Special Education Needs facilities, Voluntary Aided schools and carbon reduction measures." The report added it was estimated the cost of the BSF programme will be between £52 and £55 billion - a 16-23% increase, or £7 billion to £10 billion more than was estimated at the outset.

06 04 2009 Teachers report widespread abuse

Four in 10 teachers have faced verbal or physical aggression from a pupil's parent or guardian, according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. And of the 1,000 teachers surveyed, a quarter said a pupil had attacked them. Over a third of teachers in primary schools said they had experienced physical aggression, compared with 20% in secondary schools. The government says teachers have sufficient means at their disposal to punish disruptive pupils. Almost 60% of those questioned for the Association of Teachers and Lecturers' survey thought pupil behaviour had worsened during the past five years.

One teacher at a primary school in England said: "A six-year-old completely trashed the staff room, put a knife through a computer screen, attacked staff and we had to call the police.

"Another six-year-old attacked staff and pupils with the teacher's scissors." Another teacher said: "I and other members of staff were physically assaulted daily by a five-year-old (including head-butting, punching). "He was taken to the head to 'calm down' then brought back to apologise. "It became a vicious circle. I was off sick as a result. Around one third of teachers surveyed said that they had lost confidence as a result of the behaviour they had faced. "Persistent low-level rudeness and disruption seems to have become a fact of life in education today and no longer raises eyebrows or seems to merit special attention," said Dr Ian Lancaster, a secondary school teacher from Cheshire. A similar survey by ATL two years ago suggested half of teachers knew another who had been driven out of the profession by violent conduct.

06 04 2009 Abuse of Teachers by Parents and Pupils on the rise a survey says. Research on abuse comes after head of teachers' union launches devastating attack on parents, accusing many of failing their children and undermining schools. Although 87% of staff had told their school about the aggression, a fifth felt they did not receive adequate support. Teachers made over 200 personal insurance claims cases to the union for damage to property by pupils over the last two years – 69 incidents of malicious damage to vehicles, such as "keying" of cars, and 146 of damage to property. Nearly all (87%) of staff said they had dealt with disruptive pupils already this year, mostly low-level disruption such as talking in class, not paying attention or horsing around. Maxine Bradshaw, proposing the motion from ATL's north Wales branch, will say: "We live in a time now where anything goes and young people know all their rights but have no idea of their responsibilities. Parents and teachers seem powerless to discipline children for fear of repercussions or, worse still, prosecution. "The irony of the situation is such that many teachers who chose this caring profession have been subjected to a distinct lack of care by their employers and law enforcement agencies in terms of protecting their privacy and property."

28 07 2009 Education rebuilding - almost £2.7 billion spent over-budget.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was charged by MP’s as having "serious failures" in managing the programme after it had approved building projects for 79 colleges which required funding totalling almost £2.7 billion more than the Council could afford. Around 144 colleges saw their building projects frozen A report notes that the Government has made an extra £300 million available, and 13 colleges have now been given the go-ahead to proceed with their building work.

20 09 2009 Teacher Unions fury at School Spending Cuts. The Teachers Union has reacted angrily to the revelation of more than £2 Billion being cut from the Education Budget. Ed Balls is the first Cabinet Minister to set out how the cuts would affect Services. Up to 3,000 Senior School staff could be axed, including Heads and Deputies. Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) said that the proposals might be feasible – but not desirable. “It’s been riddled with some very big spending on very big Buildings and there are some Heads being paid ludicrous amounts of money in academies. She added “What we would have then would be a secondary School that would be essentially managing a lot of Primary Schools and the fact is the very best pedagogical practice in our system is in early years and primary Schools.”. Mr Balls WARNED TEACHERS they would have to accept pay restraint to keep staff on the front line.

00 00 0000 Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 - primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in the United Kingdom. Its an Act for securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work, for protecting others against risks to health or safety in connection with the activities of persons at work, for controlling the keeping and use and preventing the unlawful acquisition, possession and use of dangerous substances, and for controlling certain emissions into the atmosphere; laws relating to building regulations etc.
In a nutshell it’s for protecting people against people and people against substances and hazards which may affect their Health OR the environment which may affect others Health!.