Dundee City Council’s child and family services convener has claimed that recommendations to transfer ‘stop and search’ powers to school teachers could “put staff safety at risk”.
The recommendations were published in an independent report by child protection expert Andrew Lowe after the stabbing death of Aberdeenshire school pupil Bailey Gwynne in October last year.
The report states that the death was ‘avoidable’ and that consideration should be given to changing the law to ‘improve the resilience of schools’.
However, SNP councillor for Strathmartine and council child and family services convener, Stewart Hunter, said that he was apprehensive about introducing such extreme measures unnecessarily.
He said: “With regards to stop and search I do have serious reservations about introducing that to schools.
“My main reservation would be asking staff to search pupils who may have a weapon would be putting the staff’s safety at risk, particularly if the weapons are used against them or if they lash out in other ways.
“It is not a common occurrence which is why I am loathe to bring something in that might put staff’s safety at risk unnecessarily.”
Bailey Gwynne, 16, was stabbed to death by another pupil amid a fight at Cults Academy on 28 October last year.
The killer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was later found guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced to nine years imprisonment.
The report, published last week, has sought to establish how the incident could have occurred and recommend any strategies to try to avoid a repeat.
Councillor Hunter added that dialogue with teachers will remain integral to future decisions and said it is important to consider any knock-on effect of changes.
“If teachers think that these powers should be considered then I am willing to have a discussion with them,” he said.
“But staff would need suitable and significant training and I also have concerns about what the impact of the policy would have on relationships between pupils and staff.
“We have very positive relationships in our schools and I would hate to see that eroded.”
After the publication of the report, Scotland’s largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), cautioned against searching of pupils without parental support.
The union said that the experience of England, where teachers have such power, showed that the strategy is not crucial in prevention of such incidents.
It is expected that Dundee Council’s executive director of children and families service, Michael Wood, will soon present a report on the issue to the committee.
Labour’s education spokesperson and The Ferry councillor, Laurie Bidwell, added that the report showed improved communication was key.
He said: “The report suggests to me that we shall need to consider how effectively our schools are promoting an ethos of openness to communication between pupils and teachers to support such disclosures.”
