As a teacher, you prefer not to intervene physically. But in some situations you have to. The question of what you may and may not do cannot be captured in a protocol. Here we give you some tips and guidelines. There was also an article about physical intervention in the Education magazine of October 2018, you can read that here back.
Intervene if the safety of you, your colleagues or students is at stake. Inaction can be culpable.
Do not use unnecessary force, only to the extent necessary to remedy the situation and only when there is no other way to de-escalate.
Always try to see the child behind the behavior. That way you make the situation less personal.
Stay calm, although that will not always be easy, and keep communicating.
As a school, do not draw up a protocol and then put it in a drawer and never look at it again. Have the theme return more often per year.
Also inform parents of the policy on physical intervention. This creates a lot of clarity in the event of an incident. Inform parents immediately after an incident and indicate that they can always contact you for further explanation.
Agree on who is qualified to act physically. Others can take on a different role, such as temporarily taking over the class.
Have the teacher fill in an incident form and discuss the incident within the team so that everyone can learn from it.
When assigning a group, make sure that there are not too many complex and highly flammable students in one class.
If you teach your teachers certain techniques, train them more often a year so that the grips become well worn.