ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, we looked at some of the ways in which the audit culture has invested everyday social practices with its precautionary ethic. The intensity of this scrutiny is nowhere greater than in the professional arena, where professionals have a responsibility in loco parentis, and where the policing of ‘touch’ is at its height. We begin with the notion of ‘dangerous bodies’ and the ways in which parts and wholes are policed. ‘Risks’ range across legal, medical and sexual discourses although it is predominantly the nexus of legal and sexual discourses that prevails in the documentation we examined, and in the survey returns. This chapter is based on 402 such returns; mainly but not exclusively from preschools (167), primary schools (113), secondary schools (45), further education/higher education colleges, and other agencies (28). These returns referred to local institution-based rules as well as to LEA guidance and national guidance emanating from Ministries. They have been anonymised; the level of institution is identified where relevant.
