Sir, - The case in which a teacher was found guilty of a criminal offence under the 1996 Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act (The Irish Times, January 14th) brings the whole business of discipline in schools into the limelight again.
The Department of Education banned corporal punishment in 1982; after 1982 teachers found to have used corporal punishment were in breach of departmental rules and whereas they could be severely reprimanded, punished or even dismissed they were not guilty of a criminal act. Since the 1996 Act, however, corporal punishment in schools is now a criminal act.
No adequate code of discipline has been put in place in schools since the abolition of corporal punishment. Given today's attitude of the young to authority, there is now a greater need than ever before for some code of discipline to replace corporal punishment. Society today seems to have abandoned the notion of discipline.
In the course of a debate on education in the Dail some years ago, a TD stated that "today's teachers need the bravery of a lion, the skill of a psychiatrist, the stamina of a marathon runner, the appeal of Zig and Zag and the patience of Job." This colourful presentation of the role of the teacher today expresses very well how difficult the job has become. Turning teachers into criminals under the 1996 Act is not the answer to the discipline problem in schools. Why have the teachers' unions allowed this to happen? - Yours, etc., Patrick Cahill, BA, HDip in Ed, BL
Whitehall Road, Terenure, Dublin 12.