ABSTRACT
School-based sanctions should be specified by the head teacher within the disciplinary code he or she has determined, but either way they need to be in compliance with the law. The power of exclusion, whether for a fixed term or on a permanent basis, is discussed at length in Chapter 5. In addition, statutory limits, introduced by the Education Act 1997, are set on the power of detention outside school hours and the use of force to restrain pupils (but not for the purposes of corporal punishment). The power of detention19 may only be used where the head teacher has expressly included it within the disciplinary measures to be used in the school and has previously made its potential use known both within the school and, so far as possible, to parents. Only the head teacher or a person authorized by him or her to do so may use the power of detention. The parent must be given at least 24 hours’ notice in writing of his or her child’s detention, but there is no provision for a parental veto. Detention may only be given where it is ‘reasonable’, and what is interesting about the way the power of detention has been set out in the statute is that the legislation prescribes the factors that must ‘in particular…be taken into acccount’ in determining whether detention is reasonable. First, the detention must constitute a ‘proportionate punishment in the circumstances of the case’—in particular it must be proportionate to the misbehaviour involved. Second, consideration must be given to any special circumstances relevant to its imposition on the pupil which the teacher knows about (or ought reasonably to know about), including the pupil’s age, special educational needs (if any), religion and travel arrangements. Given these criteria, it is perhaps surprising that appropriate statutory criteria have not been specified in relation to the power of exclusion. However, as we shall see in Chapter 5, the requirement in the SSFA 1998 for the Secretary of State’s guidance on exclusion, which includes such criteria, to be taken into account by schools has a broadly equivalent effect.
