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Education and Inspections Act 2006
PLEASE NOTE THAT WHILE LEGAL DUTIES STILL APPLY
GOVERNMENT POLICY AND GUIDANCE PRE-MAY 2010 IS SUBJECT TO
REVIEW
This Act gave schools and local authorities responsibilities
with regard to bullying.
For schools it gave headteachers the responsibility for:
‘… encouraging good behaviour and respect for others
on part of pupils and, in particular, preventing all forms of
bullying among pupils’.
The Act also established the ‘duty to promote the well-being
of pupils’.
Often bullying incidents that take place in the community have
their origins in school, and those taking place in the community
have an effect on pupils in schools. Bullying on journeys to and
from school, including on public transport, has been identified as
a concern.
Safe
to Learn: Embedding anti-bullying work in schools (DCSF, 2007)
made it clear that Headteachers can take action over bullying
incidents that take place outside of school in the community – a
much wider responsibility than addressing bullying on journeys to
and from school.
The Act ‘… empowers headteachers, to such extent
as is reasonable, to regulate the behaviour of pupils when they are
off school site ---: empowers members of staff to impose
disciplinary penalties for inappropriate behaviour’.
Section 38 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 gave
schools new duties. Starting in 2007 schools were given the
“duty to promote community cohesion” and this now “the
contribution that schools make to community cohesion” is
incorporated into school inspection.
Guidance on the duty to promote community cohesion (DCSF, 2007)
addresses the school’s responsibilities and provides guidance on
how the school can meet them. It includes in its definition the
“community in which the school is located”.
As already stated, under the Education and Inspections Act 2006
schools must “have regard to the Children and Young People’s
Plan”.
Section six places a duty on local authorities to promote the
well-being of persons aged 13 – 19 (and up to 25 for persons with
learning difficulties) by securing access to educational and
recreational leisure-time activities and facilities giving effect
to the proposals in Youth Matters.
For further details visit Education and
Inspections Act.