Children with special needs have been physically restrained in schools more than 460 times since the beginning of the academic year, with a number of the incidents resulting in injury.
New guidelines on the management of “crisis situations” in classrooms were introduced last September, requiring schools to report all instances of physical restraint involving students with special educational needs.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) received a total of 461 such reports in the first five months following the introduction of the guidelines, some of which included details of injuries suffered during the incidents.
A total of 54 reports received by the NCSE on the same day last October appear to relate to restraint incidents at the same school during a 44-day period, involving two children identified as “Student A” and “Student B”.
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The new guidelines were criticised last year by Caoilfhionn Gallagher, the special rapporteur on child protection, who noted schools were obliged to provide only generic information regarding incidents.
The circular outlining the guidelines explicitly states that the NCSE has no investigative role in instances of physical restraint. Gallagher said it had no way of knowing the identities of the children or staff members involved.
“If this is a staff member who’s done it multiple times with multiple children, there’s no way of knowing that,” she said, contrasting the situation to robust reporting mechanisms in prisons, hospitals and residential care settings.
“Why are schools different? Because we’re talking about restraint, whether it’s applied by a member of teaching staff or whether it’s applied by a garda or whether it’s applied by a prison officer, [it] can have those same devastating results.”
Records released by the NCSE under the Freedom of Information Act show photographs of injuries arising from restraint were included in a number of reports received from schools.
It contacted schools following the receipt of some reports, asking that the names or initials of students be removed from the document before submitting it again.
However, the NCSE refused to release copies of restraint reports on the grounds they may indirectly identify the individuals involved and therefore constitute personal information.
There were 358 reports relating to the use of restraint on students with special education needs filed between September and the end of last year, while another 103 were filed in January.
In response to a parliamentary question last year, Minister of State at the Department of Education, Michael Moynihan, said the guidelines were underpinned by the principle that restraint should never be used for disciplinary purposes.
It should be applied proportionately and should last only as long as is necessary to de-escalate the situation, he added.
“The department is monitoring incidents with physical restraint and is working with the NCSE to ensure there is engagement between the NCSE and individual schools in circumstances where a physical restraint has been used involving students with special education needs,” said Moynihan.
The NCSE did not respond to a request for comment.
