ATL

Not guilty

Interrogated by the police, suspended from their jobs and under enormous stress; false accusations can wreak havoc in the lives of the accused. Words by Alex Tomlin

The power is with the children - that's the belief of many education staff living more and more in fear of an allegation against them.

ATL is seeing a significant increase in the number of allegations against education staff that subsequently turn out to be hugely exaggerated, false or even malicious. The consequences for the accused can be catastrophic as they face the stress of suspensions and police interviews, not to mention the fear of losing their job.

ATL member Edward James*, acting principal at a secondary school in Northern Ireland, knows only too well the impact of such an allegation. While vice-principal three years ago he saw a boy in the corridor tripping up younger pupils. Putting his hand on the boy's elbow, he escorted him through a nearby door.

"Later that day, the boy's father came to the school and asked to see me," Edward recalls. "Before a word was spoken he had me on the floor with his knee on my chest and was choking me with my tie, accusing me of assaulting his son."

Edward was interviewed by the police and gave a statement regarding the incident with the boy and ultimately no further action was taken by the police. However, he found the most trouble came from a "gentleman" from the Education and Library Board (ELB), Northern Ireland's equivalent to local authorities.

The officer from the ELB seemed to not believe any of Edward's evidence, stating as much in a letter to the board of governors and in a meeting with Edward and ATL Northern Ireland director Mark Langhammer.

The day after this meeting, Edward suffered a heart attack and was off work for 11 months convalescing. During that time all allegations against him were dropped and the father of the boy was charged and fined. Edward firmly believes that the stress of the investigation directly led to his heart attack.

Another ATL member, Lorraine Hanson*, a primary school teacher from Leicestershire, can relate to the stress of Edward's experience. While escorting her Year 4 class through the school, one girl started poking, pushing and kicking another child, not for the first time. The teacher told the girl to walk with her and took hold of her arm to stop her running away, as she had done previously.

The next day the girl was placed in a parallel class and the teacher was told that a complaint had been made about her to the school, Ofsted and the police. The girl's mother had claimed that the girl had come home from school sobbing, with scratches and bruises on her arm, something that the headteacher did not see when mother and daughter came in to see him the day after the incident.

Lorraine was told that she would be required to attend a police interview. She took advice from the ATL-appointed solicitors and was interviewed by a detective constable under caution. This means that at the start of the interview, the officer advised her of the right to remain silent and that anything said can subsequently be used in evidence against her.

"He cautioned me for assault and actual bodily harm. I was totally shocked. I just started crying. He asked did I scratch her and was I angry at any time? He kept going on about how I wasn't allowed to touch the child, which wasn't what I understood, and I actually began to feel I'd done something wrong." Teachers are in fact allowed to touch a child in certain circumstances, such as to restrain a pupil to prevent them causing harm to others (see below).

"What the police are looking to do is trip you up constantly. You have to be careful how you say things," explains Alice Crane*, ATL member and secondary school teacher from Yorkshire, who was accused of assault after defending herself against four girls who invaded her classroom.

Alan Stephenson*, another ATL member falsely accused, was surprised by the eagerness of the police to interview him immediately without legal representation. "When I got the advice from the ATL rep, he said I must have someone there and ATL appointed a solicitor," the now-retired secondary school teacher remembers. "It was good, sound advice."

Having been accused of punching a student on the nose, Alan was surprised how long it took for the case to be resolved. "I thought it was a strange accusation. If you punch someone on the nose, it's going to show [and the student's face was unmarked]. I just didn't see how there could be any grounds to prosecute me, but I waited over a month. I started to wonder if no news was good news."

"These allegations often have a traumatic effect on education staff," comments ATL solicitor Sharon Liburd. "Some who turn up at police stations to be interviewed have been formally arrested, which means that they are photographed, fingerprinted and can be held in the cells until the interview starts. It is not unusual for police investigations to take up to a year before a decision is taken not to prosecute."

The sense of waiting and being in the dark over proceedings is a common one, particularly if you are suspended like Alice was following the incident in her school. Both she and her colleagues were told there was not to be any contact between them. "That was really awful. You don't know what the parents or pupils or colleagues are saying. I found it very difficult not knowing what was going on, very isolating. I didn't know what the reaction was going to be until I got back."

Although not suspended, Lorraine Hanson was unsure if she could tell people. While her headteacher had told her that it was all confidential, some of her colleagues, as well as some pupils, knew something of the situation.

"You're always going to be notorious when something like this happens," says Alice, whose story came back to her via a friend who had heard about it in a hairdressers in a different town. Only by then, the story had her being dragged away by the police and a riot kicking off in the school. "I do sit in parents' evenings and wonder what they have heard," she says.

It's not just the parents you have to worry about. The boy who accused Edward James had left school when the teacher returned, but for some time Edward found himself followed by the boy's brother and his friends who tried to "make me uneasy by staring me down".

In many instances the accused member of staff will return after being cleared to find the pupil still in school. Lorraine Hanson recalls a recent encounter where she held out her arm to hold back a class in a busy corridor, causing her accuser to start telling her classmates to look out because Mrs Hanson was lashing out.

Lorraine doesn't believe the girl really understands the consequences of her actions, but there is general concern that pupils are increasingly aware of the power they can wield through accusations, or the threat of accusations.

Speaking at ATL's annual Conference last year, ATL member Brenda Walters called for a register of pupils who make false accusations. "Police have to err on the side of the child because of Every Child Matters," she explains. "The power is always weighted towards the pupil and they know it.

ATL advises being mindful of certain precautions when in one-to-one situations with pupils (see box on left). Brenda worries that more one-to-one situations will happen under the incoming individual education plans. She also warns that a situation in which two pupils and only one teacher are present can potentially be even riskier, as the pupils can back each other up in any accusation.

Alice Crane recalls working in schools where "if you touch them on the shoulder they will say you assaulted them, but nothing to this extent. I never realised how much more vulnerable we are these days". She continues: "There is a minority who see you as the enemy and come from a culture of 'us against them'."

"The innocent ones, the vast majority, are being tarred with the same brush," agrees Brenda, "but you can't just think 'this is a nice one' and drop your guard. The consequences are too severe."

Allegations can have a detrimental impact on one's ability to secure another job. Enhanced disclosures from the Criminal Records Bureau - the check education staff will undergo on applying for a new job - can include information about police investigations, even if they have not resulted in a successful prosecution or acceptance of a caution. If the caution is relevant to a child's health and safety, it is reported to the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

In FE colleges there is a specific policy in place under the joint agreement on guidance for harassment and bullying, where it states: "Where a student makes an unfounded allegation of harassment and/or bullying for malicious reasons, this will be dealt with under the student disciplinary procedure and may result in the expulsion of that student. Where a witness is found to have deliberately misled an investigation, the college will treat this as a serious disciplinary offence."

For those who have been falsely accused, the scars remain. Lorraine recalls a recent incident. "A boy in my class fell over and hurt himself. He was crying and was quite obviously in pain.

I went towards him and was simply going to put my hand on his upper back to comfort him, but I withdrew my hand. I will no longer show the compassion towards children that is part of me. I am too afraid."

Alice manages to see a positive side to her experience: "The whole incident highlighted how much I love teaching because the thought of not being able to do it was awful."

* Name has been changed.

ATL's advice

In one-to-one situations, where possible:

• notify colleagues or the pupil's parents about the lesson in advance

• avoid locations for the lesson that could appear clandestine

• talk to the pupil with a desk between you

• avoid physical contact unless it is strictly necessary.

Guidelines on using restraint:

•  Use your voice first: verbal instructions should be given before and during any physical intervention.

• Use force only when necessary to resolve the incident: this should be the minimum force required, lasting for the shortest practicable time - the purpose should be restraint and the reduction of risk.

• Do not strike blows or retaliate against pupils: to do so would exceed your authorisation to intervene, and create a significant risk of an allegation of assault being made.

For more advice on these issues see the section on facing allegations on this website.

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