Northern Ireland launches consultation on reducing restrictive practices in educational settings

The Department of Education is seeking views on its draft statutory guidance on reducing restrictive practices in educational settings.

Following extensive engagement with key interest groups and stakeholders, the department has developed statutory guidance on the use of restrictive and supportive practices in educational settings, with a view to reducing and minimising the use of restrictive practices where possible.

The draft guidance makes clear that restrictive practices should only ever be used when it is necessary and proportionate to do so, in order to keep children, young people, and others from coming to harm.

‘Restrictive practices’ is an umbrella term that refers to the entire range of interventions, such as restraint and seclusion, that are considered restrictive, and which may infringe a person’s rights. The department said educational settings may need to use restrictive practices to keep a pupil or others safe from harm.

The department began a formal review of this area in early 2020, and subsequently published interim guidance on the use of restraint and seclusion in educational settings in May 2021. The overarching principle contained in the interim guidance was that the best interests of the child should guide all decisions taken by staff in relation to children in their care.

Following this, the department published a report on the ‘Review of Restraint and Seclusion in Educational Settings’ in March 2022, following the then education minister’s endorsement of the recommendations. One of the key recommendations contained in the report was that the department should issue statutory guidance on the use of restrictive and support practices in educational settings.

Alliance Party education spokesperson, Connie Egan welcomed the launch of the consultation, in the wake of the party’s support for the Harry’s Law campaign, which seeks the introduction of legislation to end the misuse of restraint and seclusion in schools across Northern Ireland.

‘This consultation launched by the Department of Education is an important step forward in terms of ending the misuse of restraint and seclusion in our education system, and providing schools with much-needed guidance in this area,’ Egan said.

‘Alliance is committed to the introduction of ‘Harry’s Law’ to end the misuse of seclusion in schools and to ensure there is appropriate recording and monitoring of the use of restraint, in line with its place as an intervention of last resort. We believe it’s essential these practices are also supported by training for staff in trauma-informed ways in order to safely and appropriately prevent, predict and de-escalate pupil distress behaviours.

‘This is yet another example of why it is so vital that we see the restoration of the Executive and Assembly without delay, to ensure that some of the most vulnerable children and young people in our society are not left behind in pursuit of damaging ransom politics.’

Image: Amanda Marie

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