Scottish education secretary refuses calls to give teachers power to search students

A recommendation which would allow teachers in Scotland to search students who may be carrying weapons has been rejected by the education secretary.

This comes after the stabbing of Bailey Gwynne, a 16-year-old pupil in Aberdeen, but Scottish education secretary John Swinney has decided not to take forward the plans which allow teachers to search pupils for weapons.

Swinney believes that giving teachers these extra powers would “radically change” relationships between teachers and students.

In Scottish Parliament he commented on this issue stating that approving this change would place teachers “on the same footing as police officers”.

However, the Scottish government is set to introduce a new guidance on school exclusions and will support consensual searches.
If a student decides not to show their belongings then the police will be called.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Scottish Teaching Union EIS, added that the government had “taken the correct view in ruling out statutory powers to enable searching of pupils without parental support”.