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Union dismay over detention appeals

A suggestion that pupils should have the right to appeal against school detentions should not be taken seriously.

That’s the belief of the secretary of the Isle of Man branch of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Andrew Shipley.

Earlier this week, Rushen MHK Quintin Gill said the right to appeal needed to be included in a new Education Bill, which would provide revised guidelines for teachers for dealing with unruly pupils.

On Mandate this morning, Mr Shipley drew attention to a number of practical problems and told Manx Radio:

"What's raised from this is a whole load of questions and not many answers.

"The big problem is that if an appeal is actually introduced, who will that appeal be to? Will it be a paper based appeal, or will it be verbal?

"There is a general acceptance that if you have done something wrong you can expect some sort of sanction to be imposed (and) detention is just one of a number of things that happens.

Mr Shipley was asked if a decision by the legislators in favour of a right of appeal against detentions would be regarded with dismay by the unions. He said:

"I think we would be quite surprised it's taken so seriously really. We are quite surprised about it."








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