Empowering teachers

You never asked to have your parental authority suppressed . . . and the government suppressed your authority as parents.

At a referendum, nearly 90 per cent of you demanded that the law restricting parental authority be thrown out . . . and the government blatantly ignored you.

This government believes that they are better than you at raising your child. Shutting down educational freedom, persecuting innocent families, encouraging a violent environment all points to the truth . . . that the government should not be trying to replace parental authority with state authority. And now even teachers must accept state ideology.

It’s time for bureaucrats to back off and let teachers teach. The current situation, where teachers have been rendered impotent, and must allow violence and intimidation within the teaching environment, is untenable and unacceptable.

A Northland Age article outlined the near impossible position teachers find themselves in, being forced to adhere to the Ministry of Education’s no-restrain ‘guidelines.’ The article highlighted the fact that there are situations where reasonable force is required to protect children from severe escalations, both those being victimised and the escalated child.

Allowing teachers to be abused means a significant loss in teaching time, increased anxiety and increased group escalation, and having classrooms be vandalised based on a failed ideology is actually stupid, and needs to stop for the benefit of all concerned.

Seven out of eight parents understood the importance of immediate cause and effect for children at certain times when asked for their opinion in 2009. By taking the freedom away from not only parents, but also those who are entrusted to educate our young people, we deny them a vital tool in overall educational outcomes.

A child who does not have an awareness of consequences becomes an adult who does not have an awareness of consequences. New Conservative calls for the wellbeing of all students to be considered, and not just those with behavioural issues.

Teachers must be allowed to use reasonable force to protect their students, themselves and school property, and New Conservative will work with frontline teachers to set sensible, practical rules that will work in the real world.

"By taking the freedom away from not only parents, but also those who are entrusted to educate our young people, we deny them a vital tool in overall educational outcomes."