measure 7

Restore Order proposes to introduce a 'political correctness watch' to protect teachers. This could be an extension or watch over child protection bodies to ensure that ridiculous allegations do not ruin the lives of hard working teachers. Teachers do, from time to time, make small mistakes and these should be dealt with at a local level or with a simple warning.

For fear of offending the wrong minority, teachers and Head teachers find themselves stepping on egg shells with the words they choose. One wrong word and they may end up in court. All negative words have been replaced; pupils cannot 'fail' an exam, and in many schools, sports races have been banned because they don't want to the losers to feel sad.

Of course there needs to be systems to protect pupils but there also needs to be a watch on what is sensible. Children need to be protected from sexual abuse, however, real cases of this occurring in a school are extremely rare.

The majority of the 'rare' cases we that we hear about involve older teenagers, who it often turns out have been instrumental in flirting with a teacher (both male and female teachers). Consenting or not, a relationship with an older pupil is an abuse of trust. It is wrong, but it's hardly rape or paedophilia. Paranoia and panic has taken over the Education sector.

As a result of media scares, teachers have been advised that they must 'never touch' a pupil and never to be alone in a classroom with a pupil. This can often be quite hard to achieve. Individual pupils often want a quick word after a lesson. As teachers pass crowds of pupils in the corridor, they have to make sure that they don't accidentally touch anyone. They mustn't touch a child reassuringly on the arm in case it is misconstrued as a sexual advance. In primary school it is worse. Younger children need affection and should receive it, but teachers daren't risk it nowadays. A crying child comes to a teacher for comfort, and what kind of perverted society is it that won't give a nice cuddle? Primary schools have seen a drastic decline in male teachers.

Every year there are thousands of unreported cases where teachers have been investigated within the school after some claim or other. Some of these claims go further but many of the cases are preposterous. Recently, a male primary school teacher who 'tickled girls' tummies' was suspended for two years. When it was proved on 21 counts and after £160,000 that he had done nothing wrong, the case was dismissed. But this man's life and career was shattered. He can never work again, and yet all he did tickle some girls' tummies because it made them laugh. He stated that 'he had a tactile relationship with all pupils'. If he had been a woman it is unlikely that the case would ever have gone to court. In this instance, a warning would have been quite sufficient.