ABSTRACT
Readers may have noticed what has been discussed in this chapter is predominantly a process of negative identification of bad behaviour. The good thing about ‘in loco parentis’ was that it gave a positive identity to teacher role model status. It defined the status and standard of grace from which teachers might fall. The decline in meaning and validity of the in loco parentis principle has left a vacuum. The law has drifted into a negative identification of bad behaviour. Its strong emphasis is on deterrence, the enforcement of good conduct by the threat of penalty, whether in the criminal courts, by employment penalties or professional disqualification. The overall effect is very damaging. Deterrence creates the climate of fear, the insidious erosion of self-confidence. There is no longer a clearly acknowledged standard of professional conduct. Teachers moderate and dilute their professional judgements about the role models they offer out of fear of their accountability to authority which holds potentially draconian legal powers.
