Collins: Plans to protect teachers

The Tories have promised to give teachers the same protection from assault as police officers.

Shadow education secretary Tim Collins told the NASUWT union on Thursday that a Conservative government would make an attack on a teacher an "aggravated offence", carrying a higher penalty than other assaults.

As part of the party's bid to provide tougher school discipline policies, Collins claimed to be offering a "zero tolerance" approach to violence among pupils and parents.

The Tories have pledged to introduce a bill amending the law in the first Queen's Speech of the next parliament and hope that it would be operational for the start of the next academic year in September.

Collins outlined other measures he hopes would give headteachers more control over their classrooms, including the abolition of independent appeals panels against exclusions and home-school contracts giving parents' consent for their children to be punished.

The Opposition is also committed to a new statutory guarantee of anonymity for teachers faced by accusations of abuse and reducing the litigation culture surrounding school trips.

Protection

"Zero tolerance is not about warm words or protecting teachers some of the time – it is about making offenders pay and protecting teachers all of the time," Collins said.

"But teachers need more safeguards than just this. So the very first piece of education legislation to be introduced by a Conservative government would be a Teacher Protection Act.

"It will scrap independent appeals panels. And it will at last address one of the great injustices of our society today – the way in which a good teacher’s entire personal and professional life can be ruined by a single spiteful or ignorant false allegation of abuse.

"It's time, long past time, for a new statutory guarantee of anonymity for teachers facing abuse allegations, at least up to the point of trial.   

"We are giving detailed consideration to a further step which might make it clear that attacks on teachers, from whatever quarter, will simply not be tolerated. We are examining the possibility of legislating to provide that assaulting a teacher, like assaulting a police officer, should in and of itself be a more serious offence."

However Labour defended its record in government.

"We are already speeding up the investigation process for allegations made against teachers by pupils, including target time-scales and new procedures to improve liaison between police, the Crown Prosecution Service and other agencies, to ensure that cases are dealt with rapidly, fairly and consistently," a party spokesman said.

"Appeal panels for exclusions exist for the right reasons. If they did not exist then appeals would have to go through the courts - a much more lengthy process.

"The reality is that very few exclusions made by head teachers are overturned.

"The maximum sentence for assault against a police officer or common assault (which is assault against any member of the public) is already the same at six months and or a level five fine (which is a maximum of £5,000)."