ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out to challenge some of the assumptions underlying current guidance and strategies for physical restraint in schools. Teachers and managers are worried about the consequences of violence and extreme behaviour in schools. All of us lack confidence in dealing with these problems because they have not yet been set on a firm ethical and psychological footing. The threat of the medico-legal system and the demands of social accountability that surround teachers and schools is such that too many assumptions have been made about what is on offer. Short term training 'packages' have been accepted without sufficient questioning of their provenance and schools are currently reaping the whirlwind in terms of staff subjected to litigation and disciplinary procedures not to mention damaged young lives that deserve a more rigorous professional response. This chapter deliberately throws up questions, challenges some key assumptions and hopes to encourage further practical research and improve the quality of debate and training.
