Following a series of incidents which include the stabbing of a principal with a scissors by a student, Irish schools are looking across the water for specialised training for their teachers in dealing with unruly pupils. 

The UK-based Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) provides training in how to defuse dangerous situations and teaches self-defence and non-violent restraint, including deflecting kicks and blows as well as methods of incapacitating a child.

The organisation claims that demand from Ireland for its services has quadrupled in the past 12 months. 

Mark Gorman, the EU director of the CPI, said that until recently the company was getting on average one call a month from Irish schools.

“In the last two years, and particularly in the last 12 months, we’ve seen a big increase on that,” he said.

“We’re now getting about one inquiry a week that turns into an actual contract. We’ve also had more demand from special-education schools. In 2007, we ran three programmes in these schools, whereas last year that was up to 13.”

Last June, the principal of St Oliver Plunkett national school in Navan called in CPI to train the 40 teachers on the staff in the school.

Faced with increasing levels of violence from pupils, and believing that suspension achieved nothing, Mr Hand had decided to look for help. He consulted with the department's psychologist and she suggested CPI.

Mr Hand succeeded in securing €7,500 in funding from the Navan Education Centre for the course, which covered the training of 40 teachers and an instructor’s training course for himself.

“I’ve seen a huge increase in the levels of violence that we’re encountering, in the last five years in particular,” he said.

“There has also been a change in the reasons for the violence. We have more children from homes where drink and drugs are a problem, and where there is only one parent and very little discipline. There is a big parenting problem now that wasn’t there five or 10 years ago.”

“We have about 16 children with severe emotional and behavioural problems, and they are very volatile... They could blow up at any moment.

”We have one student at the moment that could wreck a classroom in two minutes, throwing chairs around the place and tearing apart anything he gets his hands on.

”In situations like that, teachers have to know how to restrain the pupil, both for his own protection and the protection of others.

“The emphasis [in the training] is all about how to defuse confrontational situations, how to calm a child using careful body language and a calm tone...

“But we were also taught how to deflect a kick or a blow. For example, if a child was to grab my hair in his fist, I now know how to press down on his knuckles in such as way that it won’t hurt, but will force him to release his grip.

”We’ve also been taught how to restrain a child in a non-violent way, where two teachers put the child into a position where he is standing on his toes, totally destabilised.”

Mr Hand confirmed that, since receiving the training last summer, the teachers have been forced to use the techniques on a regular basis.

“We use the calming methods all the time, but unfortunately we also have to physically restrain two children in the school on a weekly basis,” he said.

Another principal who had noticed a trend of increased aggression in pupils, applied to do the course last February. Sister Liz Smyth, from the Dominican school campus in Ballyfermot, said that while they hadn't as yet encountered any major problems, she had decided to be proactive and get the training now.

Sr Smyth raised €2,300 to pay for the instructor’s course and now intends to train the 140 staff members.

“The techniques would be a huge help,” she said. (Source: Sunday Times)