Body cams for NI teachers a ‘last resort’ says union

Jacquie White, who taught for 20 years at Millburn Primary in Coleraine, said that while body cams would be a “last resort,” the safety of pupils and teachers “must come above all else”.

The Ulster Teachers’ Union (UTU) general secretary said: “We have seen a growing number of serious incidents in recent years. We have seen teachers punched and kicked; a pupil even threatened to stab a pregnant teacher, while another staff member needed a tetanus injection after being bitten.

“Add to this that parents can sometimes find it hard to accept that their children are behaving this way and you have a recipe for disaster.”

Ms White added: “Public servants are increasingly wearing body cams to avoid situations like this – police, ambulance staff, traffic wardens – and many schools already have CCTV operating so...perhaps the leap to wearing body cams isn’t as radical as at first seems.

“Teachers’ and classroom assistants’ safety must be paramount and we have seen that increasingly compromised, to the extent that some schools have installed panic button in classrooms.

“However, the fact remains that some of the children involved in these incidents shouldn’t be in a school setting in the first place or if they are, they need more specialised support.”

Ms White said the prospect of body cams in schools is being raised in other regions, and that the situation in Northern Ireland is being exacerbated by “the delay in being able to have these children assessed” and a plan put in place for them.

“That delay is, of course, due to funding,” she said.

“We appreciate the minister is making the Special Educational Needs sector a priority but we would again underline the urgency of this matter.”