Clause 2

Part of Education Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:45 pm on 8 March 2011.

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Photo of Kevin Brennan Kevin Brennan Shadow Minister (Education) 4:45, 8 March 2011

Clause 2 amends a provision that was inserted in 2009—commencing on 1 September 2010—into the Education Act 1996, and which applies to all schools in England, including independent ones. Two grounds for searching a pupil are added:

“(a) in subsection (3) (prohibited items), after paragraph (e) insert—

(ea) an article that the member of staff reasonably suspects has been, or is likely to be, used—

(i) to commit an offence, or

(ii) to cause personal injury to, or damage to the property of, any person (including P);”;

(b) in that subsection, after paragraph (f) insert—

“(g) any other item which the school rules identify as an item for which a search may be made.””

Our amendments seek to get into the detail of the Government’s thinking and to examine whether the provision will be good law. As a former Minister in the Departments for Children, Schools and Families, and for Business, Innovation and Skills—with responsibility for further education in the latter—and having been a Minister with responsibility for behaviour and a practising teacher and head of department for 10 years, I have developed fairly strong views, and I suspect that the Minister and I do not, in practice, differ much in our opinion of what the classroom and school environment should be like, and what powers should be available to head teachers and staff.

My strong belief and philosophy was always that teachers have to start with being able to create a calm, orderly environment in the school, because without that the process of learning cannot move forward. The teacher’s saying used to be, “Never smile until Easter,” and I suppose the philosophy could be translated in that way. That is perhaps a slight parody, but it is clearly necessary to achieve a calm, orderly environment if learning is to take place, not just for the benefit of children who turn up in the classroom and automatically respond to such an environment, but for those who do not do that, but nevertheless need that environment to begin learning. It is not just a case of some children  spoiling the learning of others; it is a case of helping those children who otherwise would not learn. It is to everyone’s benefit.

Let me consider amendments 10 and 11. Amendment 10 seeks to find out why the new powers in the Bill are needed in practice, and in what circumstances the Government believe that they would be used. As I said, there is a general consensus that we all need a calm and orderly environment as a prerequisite for learning, so we support the Government’s efforts to build on the work that was done when we were in government to improve teachers’ ability to enforce discipline—several measures did that. Indeed, we believe that the Bill attempts to build on existing legislation that the Labour Government introduced to improve discipline, but we are not yet convinced that it has been thoroughly thought through.

Head teachers already have powers to search pupils. The previous Government clarified in law that teachers and head teachers can use reasonable force to control or restrain a pupil if it proves necessary to stop a pupil committing a criminal offence, or what would be a criminal offence for younger pupils, or if they had the potential to cause injury or damage to property or prejudice good order and discipline—for example, if a pupil refused to leave a classroom when ordered to do so. That power already exists in law, and many examples were given last week in the evidence sessions.