Teachers restraining children 130 times a month

Radio NZ News 24 November 2017
Family First Comment: Here’s the proof that common sense has left our schools – and teaching staff are now paranoid about taking common sense action against misbehaving students…
Principals’ Federation’s Whetu Cormick – Mr Cormick said new rules about when teachers could legally use physical force also meant teachers were less likely to intervene
President of the Post Primary Teachers Association, Jack Boyle – “Teachers have always thought twice about it, but now what… some teachers will be thinking about potentially is not ‘is that young person at risk of harm?’ but instead there’s a backstep ‘am I at risk of losing my career if I intervene?’,”
Tai Tokerau Principals Association president Pat Newman – the ministry was requiring notifications about trivial incidents, such as breaking up fights between five-year-olds. “It’s brought another level of fear into schools and into teachers about what are going to be the consequences of keeping children safe.”
And then they wonder why schools are so unsafe these days!
Teachers are physically restraining children to stop them hurting themselves or others more than 130 times each month, Education Ministry figures show.
Since the start of August, schools have had to notify the Ministry of Education every time a teacher physically restrains a student.
Between 1 August and 25 October, 186 schools made 423 notifications, all involving the use of force because of a serious and imminent safety risk.
It said more than half the cases involved children with recognised behaviour problems.
Twenty-three of the reports came from secondary schools, 79 from special schools, and 321 from primary schools.
The ministry’s deputy secretary sector enablement and support, Katrina Casey, said physical restraint was a serious intervention and should only be used as a last resort.
She said the notification system helped the ministry support schools and it also protected staff by ensuring there was a written record of each event.
READ MORE: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/344589/teachers-restraining-children-130-times-a-month 
Restraint reporting too detailed, but vital – teachers
Radio NZ News 27 November 2017
Mandatory reporting of hundreds of cases of teachers physically restraining children will show the scale of the behaviour problems they’re dealing with, school principals say.
But they warn that teachers are increasingly worried their snap judgements about when to restrain a child could land them in court.
The Education Ministry received more than 400 notifications of physical restraint in schools in the first three months of mandatory reporting, which began on 1 August.
Deidre Alderson from Willowbank School was among several hundred principals who had reported a case of physical restraint of a child since then.
“We had a child whose behaviours were causing the teacher concern and she was unable to de-escalate the problem,” she said.
“Her only real alternative was to hold the child so that she could get the rest of the children out of the classroom so that they were safe.”
READ MORE: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/344775/restraint-reporting-too-detailed-but-vital-teachers