Teachers seek talks over 'slap' case

Teachers' unions are today demanding an urgent meeting with the director of public prosecutions after a head was cleared of slapping an unruly six-year-old.

Pamela Mitchelhill was cleared of assaulting the girl, who it was alleged was slapped twice round the face. Mrs Mitchelhill's union wants to know why the decision was taken to prosecute - when the girl herself denied she was hit and the only other witnesses were standing 30 feet away on the other side of a window.

The union's outcry comes as full details were revealed for the first time of the lengths to which Mrs Mitchelhill went to to help the troubled girl.

Mrs Mitchelhill's case is the latest in a string of failed prosecutions of respected teachers for alleged assaults on badly behaved children.

Her union today claimed that common sense is being thrown out of the window as an over-jealous Crown Prosecution Service rushes cases to court only for them to collapse when the evidence is scrutinised.

Staff - many with years of experience - are being needlessly put through the ordeal of a court case with the prospect of an end to their careers if convicted, they say. Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of the NASUWT, of which Mrs Mitchelhill is a member, said: "It seems these cases are coming to court with depressing regularity. You

have to ask on what basis these cases are being brought because the impact on teachers can be disastrous."

He said that five heads in Mrs Mitchelhill's area had gone through a similar ordeal over the past three years and four of them were acquitted.

Last month, a headteacher with 30 years' service was cleared of forcing a fish down an 11-year-old boy's throat.

The union says it now want to meet the director of public prosecutions, Ken MacDonald, to argue for a shake-up in the way teachers are dealt with. Mr O'Kane said: "We want to raise these issues with the DPP because it is something about which we have major concerns."

He argued that the CPS should start to look differently at allegations made against teachers and taking on board classroom realities. "I would like to know what criteria are used when bringing forward these cases because prosecuting a punch-up in a pub is different to dealing with a case against a teacher."

Teachers, he claimed, are a soft target. "Some people seem to see pupils not as children but as young adults but that's not the case. That should be taken into account by those responsible for prosecutions. Children have to be disciplined or else how will a school function?" The

National Association of Head Teachers has backed the call for meeting with the DPP. General secretary David Hart said: "There is a danger of the police and the CPS losing all vestiges of common sense and not looking at what happens in a schoolroom situation."

The Crown Prosecution Service today said it was standing by its decision to go ahead with the action against Mrs Mitchelhill.