News

Teachers worried over knife crime accountability proposals

There is concern this week over how proposed new duties to make teachers and other public sector workers accountable for preventing knife crime will work in practice.

A Home Office consultation has outlined a new multi-agency and legal “public health duty” designed to spot the warning signs of involvement in knife crime.

However, school leaders and teachers are worried about the implications of the idea and have pointed to the wealth of safeguarding work that is already carried out.

Furthermore, there is frustration that schools and others are being asked to tackle a problem that many see as being caused by the government’s policy of austerity, including the cuts to police numbers and Safer Schools Partnerships.

Prime minister Theresa May – who held a summit on youth violence at Downing Street on Monday – has said that the plans are designed to “identify more young people at risk”.

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