Educating children to reach their full potential has always been a challenging experience, but with the decline in children’s respect for both teachers and each other, the challenges are even more formidable. Every day it seems there are violent assaults occurring within, or just outside of, British schools and colleges. As the number and level of violence used increases, so does the risk of life-threatening injuries.
Recent studies have indicated the use of children as young as nine carrying weapons for ‘self defence’, and as many as one in four of middle / high school pupils admitting to carrying concealed weapons at school in some areas. A combination of; no respect, concealed weapons, poor legal deterrents and no insight into the consequences of their actions results in a volatile mixture, one that teachers are expected to face head-on.
A random act of violence can erupt from nowhere with catastrophic consequences. At Speciality Oxygen we are only too aware of the number these incidents. Our instructors have attended many of the murders and serious assaults that make the news. In these instances, immediate and appropriate treatment can make the difference between life and death. Indeed on occasion; the lack of specialist training has led to potentially preventable deaths. This has other far-reaching consequences – where does the duty of care of a teacher or school governing body stop with relation to the safety of its staff and pupils? If the specialist training now exists to help mitigate the risk of unnecessary death or disability, does the school or Local Education Authority fail in its legal duty of care by failing to train its staff appropriately?
At Speciality Oxygen we already provide training courses for some schools and are working hard to ensure all of those requiring training have it available. But our caveat is that it must be taught by experts, people who have vast experience of actually dealing with these types of wounds rather than just training ‘from a textbook’. Lets be frank – minor wound management as taught on First Aid At Work courses does not equip you with either the knowledge or skills to deal with major trauma effectively. We should know – we teach first aid courses too!
Speciality Oxygen has developed the Specialist Major Trauma Management Course for professionals who are high risk of exposure to serious trauma. We regularly teach the military medics and doctors to deal with these types of injury but until now this level of training has not been available to civilians. In addition to the training we will be able to recommend or provide the small trauma packs to you and your organisation.
We cannot reduce the incidence of violent assaults but through our courses we can help to mitigate both the moral and legal consequences of such attacks for teachers.
Related Press Links –
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/in_depth/education/2000/unions_2000/769068.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/4966220.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/essex/4632456.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/manchester/8635926.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/wales/south_east/7110419.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/bristol/6069006.stm