Should music teachers be allowed to touch children?

[espadrille]

OMGoodness, the world has gone mad. How can a music teacher teach a child correctly and never be able to touch them.

What has the world come to.

A world where kids cant play out in the snow in case they fall down.

A world where teachers are in fear of passing too close to a student in case they get the wrong idea.

A world where children dont play out as they live in fear of what might happen( passed on by parents via the media.}

Of course its the right thing to do. Cant believe they have carried on that long with that rule TBH.

[Phanerothyme]

I'm in agreement with Gove, but until teachers have better protection from malicious accusations, the MU have got their advice right.

[Halibut]

I'm in agreement with Gove, but until teachers have better protection from malicious accusations, the MU have got their advice right.

 

How do you feel teachers can better be able to defend themselves against malicious accusations?

 

What can usefully be done? I have a number of friends who are teachers and my work sometimes brings me into contact with children so I'm aware of the possibility of false and malicious claims. I believe it's the case that student teachers are still advised to avoid ever being alone with a child.

[spooky3]

Evidence of no wrong doing, e.g. video.

 

How else?

[Guest sibon]

I'm in agreement with Gove, but until teachers have better protection from malicious accusations, the MU have got their advice right.

 

It isn't that easy, because we also need to protect pupils from malicious teachers (they do exist).

 

The answer lies in making sure that there are adequate witnesses around during music lessons. This can be done in a variety of ways. The easiest is to ensure that teachers and pupils are never left one to one. An alternative is a CCTV camera recording proceedings, as unpleasant as that might seem.

 

I'll declare an interest here. I've worked in a variety of schools in a variety of roles for 25 years. I've only seen a very small number of malicious accusations, although one had appalling consequences for an excellent colleague of mine.

 

We need to be careful to keep a sense of proportion. We need to make decisions in the best interests of the education of the students. Then we can decide the best way to safeguard the staff and the students.

[spooky3]

It isn't that easy, because we also need to protect pupils from malicious teachers (they do exist).

 

The answer lies in making sure that there are adequate witnesses around during music lessons.

...

 

But what if two weirdo's pair up?

[Guest sibon]

But what if two weirdo's pair up?

 

There are ways to make that difficult. A simple answer would be to make sure that the pairs were not always the same.

 

I'm pretty sure that it does happen though.

[spooky3]

There are ways to make that difficult. A simple answer would be to make sure that the pairs were not always the same.

 

I'm pretty sure that it does happen though.

 

Still, if one legitimately had to say, "I didn't see" or "I went to the ...", then the system falls down.

[taxman]

this is quite possibly the only sensible thing Gove has done

 

You know I think you might be right here!

 

No fan of Gove, I think he's a complete twunt, but on this he's probably right.

 

This no touching rule is born out of paranoia. In one sense it is there to protect the member of staff/adult from screaming rabid accusations from parents but at the same time it prevents responsible adults acting in a caring way towards children.

 

I was a Park Ranger. I used to deal with young children all the time. If one falls over and is hurt and crying the natural response is to comfort, to hug and hold. But we weren't allowed to in case we were accused of inappropriate behaviour. It's a sad indictment of society.

[handypandy]

My piano teacher used to touch me.... with a ruler on the knuckles usually:o

 

But I'm with discreet cctv. Its a sick old world, but .....