Positive Handling in Schools
Course Overview
Positive Handling is a very serious subject. Knowing when and how to act in a difficult situation can
be the difference between a positive outcome and a potentially career ending prosecution.
Course Content
Most relevant to teaching assistants and learning support assistants, SENCOs and inclusion staff, pastoral leads and behaviour support staff, and teachers and other classroom staff who may need to respond in the moment.
The legal basis for a member of school staff using force sits under Section 93 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, which gives staff a statutory power to use reasonable force to prevent a pupil from hurting themselves or others, damaging property, or causing serious disruption. The Department for Education's guidance, *Use of Reasonable Force* (2013), sets out how this power should be applied in practice.
The Children Act 1989 sits alongside this rather than being the source of the power itself: it establishes that a child's welfare is the paramount consideration in any decision affecting them. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 adds a duty of care towards both staff and pupils, and the Equality Act 2010 requires positive handling policies to be applied fairly and without discrimination.
The key legal test throughout is that any use of force must be reasonable in the circumstances: no more force than is needed, for no longer than necessary, and never used as a punishment.
Positive handling is the broad term for the proactive, planned approach schools take to managing challenging behaviour, prioritising communication and de-escalation, with physical intervention used only as a genuine last resort. Team-Teach is one specific, widely used accredited training system for positive handling and physical intervention in UK schools, delivered by licensed trainers in person. This course is not a Team-Teach course, and doesn't carry Team-Teach or other physical intervention accreditation. It's a general online introduction to the theory. Physical restraint technique cannot be safely taught or assessed through e-learning alone, which is why accredited programmes in this area are delivered in person.
Examples and statistics on the scale of aggressive pupil behaviour, recognising the stages of aggression, practical de-escalation techniques, where the law stands on reasonable force, and best practice theory around physical restraint.
Course Duration
100 mins
Course Certification
Approved by CPD
