Northern Ireland Issues New Guidance On Restraint And Seclusion For Schools

According to new interim guidance on restraint and seclusion in schools issued by the Department of Education (DE), parents should be told if their child is restrained in school and the incident should be recorded.

However, there is not yet a legal obligation on schools to record when they restrain a pupil.

The children’s commissioner, Koulla Yiasouma, has also previously called for laws on when a child can be restrained or isolated in school to be strengthened.

Some parents have led a campaign to change the current guidance, which is more than 20 years old, and social workers have also warned that the practices could have damaging effects on children.

The department has now sent interim guidance to schools while a review takes place on the use of restraint and isolation in Northern Ireland.

The interim DE guidance said that restraint or reasonable force should only be used as a “last resort” and should “never be used as a form of punishment or to make a child behave; and never deliberately cause pain/injury to a pupil”.

However, until the law changes, schools are not legally obliged to record when they restrain a child.

The Children’s Commissioner in Scotland defined seclusion as “shutting a child somewhere alone and not allowing them to leave”.

However, the interim guidance said that no such definition exists in Northern Ireland.

The DE guidance said current guidance does not seek to define seclusion or indicate what forms of seclusion, if any, are permissible, and in what circumstances.

The issue of seclusion, including Deprivation of Liberty, is being considered as part of the department’s review and, subject to ministerial approval, guidance will follow once that process has been completed.

But the interim guidance to schools said that children should never be locked in a room or left unaccompanied and must be able to leave when they want to.

DE also said it expected to provide full new guidance on restraint and seclusion in the 2021/22 school year.