International Law

Huge rise in teacher suspensions

By John Hirst

There has been an 86% increase in the number of teachers suspended on full pay in the UK over claims of pupil mistreatment, the BBC has learned.

This statistic appears to be alarming at first glance. And, may be that is the case. However, bottom line the report states: "In total there are 537,000 teachers in the UK, so only a tiny minority of teachers - fewer than 0.01% get suspended".

A couple of things jump out at me, "£14.5 million was paid out in salaries for those suspended", in other words, teachers were paid for not teaching. "The length of suspensions ranged from about a week to, in one case in Leicester, more than four years". How on earth could the investigation and suspension go on for 4 years? I find it incredible that the Freedom of Information Act can produce the amount of suspensions, and yet leave a large gap in the knowledge: "The Freedom of Information research did not reveal how many allegations against teachers were upheld". At the very least these figures should be produced.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on September 14, 2008 (boomark / email).