Debate contribution: Restrictive Practices in Education Settings

Debate contribution by Ms Cara Hunter on 30 June 2025.

MLA

Ms Cara Hunter

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

30 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Committee Business

Heading

Restrictive Practices in Education Settings

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5043792

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Children strapped to chairs. Children secluded from their peers, in closed rooms. Children left alone in windowless so-called darkrooms. Children held, face to the ground, by multiple adults. Children injured, distressed, voiceless. Children traumatised.

As one parent remarked to me, article 4(1)(c) is just corporal punishment by the back door. The accounts of restraint and seclusion are shocking. The impact is devastating, and its perpetuation intolerable. That form of 21st-century corporal punishment disproportionately affects children with special educational needs (SEN) — our most vulnerable children. In some cases, restraint and seclusion is exercised on children who are non-verbal with no ability to report what is happening to them.

The motion recognises that it is parents who brought these issues to the attention of the Assembly and the public. It applauds them, as I do. However, those parents, including Deirdre Shakespeare and Shauna, with whom I spoke this week, are not interested in empty gestures; they want to see action, so that no child ever has to suffer like that again. Regrettably, despite the issue's having been flagged up nearly a decade ago and despite the Department's recognising the seriousness of the problem, little comprehensive action has been taken to prevent it happening again. The failure to compel schools to report the incidents is alarming. Schools are permitted to continue operating in the dark, free to deprive children of their liberty without their parents ever even being informed. Too often, those measures are performed on children who lack the ability to advocate for themselves, leaving parents to interpret their traumatised behaviours in pursuit of truth as they follow the breadcrumb trail to understand the reality of school abuse. While the huge lack of data and reporting on these issues means that we do not fully comprehend the extent of the problem, the parents and carers' voices on restrictive practices 2019 report, which assessed restrictive practices on SEN children across the UK, including Northern Ireland, detailed that 88% of parents reported that their child had been restrained in school, with 35% stating that that happened regularly and that 71% of families reported that their child had been secluded in school, with 21% saying that that was happening daily. While the most recent departmental circular from May 2021 on restraint and seclusion states that it is always advisable that parents are informed, there is no statutory obligation on schools to record incidents of restraint or seclusion. Furthermore, while it states:

"Reasonable force/restraint should ... only be used as a measure of last resort"

and to:

"preserve the dignity and respect of all concerned",

and should:

"never be used as a form of punishment or to make a child behave",

we have a limited ability to ascertain whether those procedures are implemented in a way that meets those expectations. Indeed, if one of the members of staff had not shared with Deirdre Shakespeare photographs of what her son, Harry, endured and was being subjected to, there is every chance that we would not be having this debate today. It does not take a medical professional to understand that strapping a child to a chair; deliberately weighing children down with heavy bags; belting children tightly to mechanical devices; locking children in small rooms with no stimulus and, in some instances, without even a window; or multiple adults forcefully holding children's limbs down, telling them that they cannot move and that, if they do, they will be held down for longer, is unethical and would be traumatic for any child. However, as of today, we have limited guidance and oversight to ensure that that never happens again. The parents whose children experienced those practices talk movingly about the lasting impact that restraint and seclusion has had on them as a family, not only on their child. Children who once managed with complex needs regressed from happy, functioning young learners to distressed, fearful and traumatised children who were afraid of school and the dark and afraid that adults entrusted with their care may not be trustworthy. I ask you, Minister, to listen to the debate, understand the lived experience of those children, listen to parents and their concerns, repeal article 4(1)(c) of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 and commit to introducing non-discriminatory guidance and training. We further call on you to implement the gathering and monitoring of evidence required to ensure that that dark chapter in our education system can finally be closed.

737 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:06 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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