Compulsory school education in the UK: Right to Education, Student Welfare, Discipline and Use of Force

11 min readJan 3, 2021

This article aims to provide a helpful guide for young people and others interested in education law in the UK, primarily in the context of primary and secondary education. It explains the meaning of school and some of the rights and duties of the Secretary of State, local authorities, governing bodies, headteachers, members of staff and parents or guardians, most significantly the duty to promote the welfare of pupils and maintain discipline.

It also considers the legal bases for education and the various powers of headteachers and members of staff over pupils to enforce discipline, specifically their ability to impose detention, exclude pupils, use reasonable force, and search for, and seize, prohibited items on pupils.

The UK education system

Education in the UK is mainly governed by statute (i.e. laws passed by Parliament), but as will be discussed later, other types of law are also relevant.

The Education Act 1944 laid the groundwork for modern education law. It divided education into three stages of primary, secondary and further education, and placed duties on parents, local authorities and the Secretary of State for Education in relation to each stage.

However, in 1996 education law underwent reform and the 1944 Act is now only of historical importance as its key elements have been reproduced in later laws. Education law now derives primarily from the Education Act 1996 and other statutes, such as:

Later Education Acts (inc. 1997, 2002, 2005, 2011)
The Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998
The School Standards and Framework Act 1998
The Learning and Skills Ac 2000
The Education and Inspections Act 200
The Apprenticeships, Skills Children and Learning Act 2009;
The Academies Act 2010
The Children and Families Act 2014; and
Various other enactments, including the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 and Coronavirus Act 2020.

As is clear frrom the above, the UK’s legal framework for education is quite the large body of rules. They contain provisions for the various stages of education, namely:

education for pre-compulsory school age children (under 5's)
primary and secondary education for compulsory school age children (5–16)
education of children and young people over compulsory school age (16–19)
further and higher education (18 and over)

They also make general and specific provision for various aspects of education, including:

for academies, free schools, independent schools and home schooling;
on educational records;
on pupil welfare;
on discipline and bullying;
on temporary and permanent exclusion;
on complaints against schools;
on education for persons detained in young offender institutions;
on special educational needs;
on financial provision; and
on the legal relationship between pupils and educational institutions.

It would be a massive effort to provide any comprehensive overview of the UK’s educational law as a whole. Accordingly, this article primarily relates to important legal provisions that relate to schooling for compulsory school age children (5–16 year olds), and we hope to cover other stages of education in future.

The legal basis for education

As previously mentioned, statute is the primary legal basis for education in the UK, with it being an offence for parents or guardians of compulsory school age children not to have their children at school.

However, common law, human rights law and international children’s rights law also have some bearing on the UK education system.

The common law continues to impose duties of care on local authorities, teachers and governing bodies, who can all be held liable for negligent acts or omissions that cause harm to pupils.

The First Protocol of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the ‘ECHR’) also provides that no one may be denied the right to an education. This right, among other Convention rights, is given effect in UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998.

Further, although they have not been incorporated into UK law, the UN Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), expressly provide for the right to education.

The UNCRC is perhaps the most substantial and comprehensive international treaty relating to children. It calls on states to meet the needs of children and to progressively respect their rights, views and wishes as they increase in age and maturity. It also calls on states to make primary education compulsory and available to all children, secondary education available to all children and higher education accessible to all.

In any event. education for every child is generally not a controversial issue the UK, despite any express right to an education defined in UK law. However, insofar as there is a right not to be denied an education, UK courts have also held that there is no right to an education suitable for ones needs (R (on the application of B) v Head Teacher of Alperton Community School [2001] EWHC 229 (Admin)).

The right to an education also does not include a right to be educated at any particular institution (R (on the application of LG) v Independent Appeal Panel for Tom Hood School [2010] EWCA Civ 142).

Meaning of School

A ‘school’ is generally defined as an educational institution which is not in the further or higher education sector, and that is an institution providing either primary or secondary education, or both.

Most schools are maintained schools that are state funded and controlled by local authorities. They follow the national curriculum. Maintained schools that have competitive selection are grammar schools.

Independent schools are non-maintained schools that charge fees and are privately funded. They have more freedom to set their own curriculum, length of school days and terms, in line with national standards.

Academies are publicly funded independent schools that do not charge for admission, attendance or education, and to which academy arrangements relate. They have less freedom than full independent schools but more flexibility than maintained schools. An under performing school can be required to become an academy, and many other schools can voluntarily become academies. However, a 16–19 academy is not a school.

A free school is a form of academy that is state funded but which is independent and not controlled by a local authority.

Welfare of Pupils

The Secretary of State has a duty to promote education and may make regulations allowing local authorities to take certain action with the aim of promoting the welfare of students. Such action may include:

Making provision for school clothing and financial assistance for school clothing;
Paying school expenses;
Granting scholarships, bursaries and other allowances to take part in any school or training activities;
Providing school meals to any qualifying registered pupil;
Promoting pupil cleanliness, including requiring a poorly presenting pupil to be cleaned by their parent, guardian or a local authority;
Promoting medical or dental health, supporting pupils with medical conditions and, exceptionally, the ability to require a pupil to be medically examined.
Prohibiting or restricting the employment of children which is prejudicial to their health or their ability to benefit fully from their education.

The Equality Act 2010 also imposes a duty on schools not to unlawfully discriminate against any pupil in regards to offers, admissions, provision of education, quality of education, access to benefits, facilities or services, exclusion or by subjecting them to any other detriment. Pupils should also not be unlawfully harassed or victimised within the meaning of the Equality Act, and reasonable adjustments must be made for those with disabilities.

Certain education authorities also have a duty to prevent children being drawn into terrorism. This duty is imposed by the Prevent strategy, which provides that such authorities must have due regard to the need to prevent terrorism, when exercising their duties.

Discipline: Duties

School governing bodies, headteachers and staff of schools play an important role in promoting good behaviour at school, and maintaining and enforcing discipline to promote the welfare of all pupils. Discipline is an important cornerstone for the creating and maintaining an effective learning environment in schools.

Governing bodies must have clear, written policies in place designed to promote good behaviour and discipline on the part of its pupils and to prevent bullying. Governing bodies must also set out any particular matters regarding discipline that they consider should be determined by the head teacher.

The head teacher must determine such measures that fall to him with a view to promoting discipline and proper regard for authority, encouraging good behaviour, securing an acceptable standard of behaviour by pupils, and to otherwise regulate the conduct of pupils.

Local authorities have a reserve power to prevent a breakdown of discipline in schools where it considers that the behaviour of registered pupils at maintained schools will, or is likely to, severely prejudice the education of other pupils at the school.

They can take such steps in relation to the school as they consider are required to prevent the breakdown, or continuing breakdown, of discipline at the school.

Discipline Enforcement: Detention

A child may be detained at school for disciplinary purposes if their conduct falls below expected standards, provided the detention is not improper or unreasonable.

The loco parentis principle provides the basis of the teachers authority to detain pupils. The principle provides that the parent or guardian delegates all his/her own authority to the headteacher, when placing their child at a school.

Detention by parents is only unlawful if it is outside the realm of reasonable parental discipline, and so reasonable school detention falls squarely within those bounds.

A parent may have had a claim at common law for false imprisonment of their child if a detention is imposed without their consent. However, statute now provides that detention can be lawfully imposed on a pupil if:

(1) it is not in breach of any statutory requirement or prohibition and is reasonable;

(2) it was imposed by someone able to impose a statutory penalty; and

(3) the decision was taken on the school premises or elsewhere when a pupil was under the lawful control of a member of staff of the school.

If the detention is outside of school sessions, then the pupil must be under 18, pupils and parents must have been made aware that such a detention could be imposed, and the detention must be on a permitted day of detention.

Discipline Enforcement: Exclusion

The head teacher of a school, including academies, may exclude a pupil from the school for a fixed period or permanently.

Where a head teacher decides to exclude a pupil for a fixed period, the head teacher must inform the pupil or his parent or guardian of his exclusion and the reasons for it.

They must also communicate in writing (1) the period of exclusion and the reasons for it; (2) that representations can be made about the decision; (3) that the pupil may be involved in the representations; (4) the means, the timescale, the place to which and to whom the representations should be made.

If a head teacher permanently excludes a student, the same applies but the head teacher must also inform the governing body and the local authority.

There are review and reconsideration processes in place to ensure that children can be reinstated in appropriate circumstances. If the governing body of a school is to consider an exclusion, the pupil or parent/guardian must also be told (1) the time and place; (2) that they may attend and be represented at the hearing, at their own expense, (3) and that they may be accompanied by a friend.

Where a parent has been appropriately notified, they have a duty to ensure that an excluded pupil is not present in a public place at any time during school hours for the first five school days after the exclusion, otherwise the parent commits an offence.

A reasonable justification for the failure to comply with the duty is a defence.

Use of force, restraint and search of pupils

Members of staff may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances for the purpose of preventing a pupil from doing (or continuing to do) any of the following:

(1) Committing an offence

(2) Causing personal injury to, or damage to the property of, any person including the pupil himself; or

(3) prejudicing the maintenance of good order and discipline at the school or among any pupils receiving education at the school, whether during a teaching session or otherwise.

These powers may only be exercised on the premises of the school in question, or elsewhere where the member of staff has lawful control or charge of the pupil concerned, but it does not authorise anything to be done which constitutes giving corporal punishment, nor does it restrict what may otherwise lawfully be done.

Certain members of staff may also search pupils if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a pupil may have a prohibited item on them. They may use such force as is reasonable to conduct the search, and seize prohibited items found in the search.

However, the search must be done by a member of the same sex as the pupil, and in the presence of the pupil and another member of staff of the same sex as the pupil, unless the need for the search is urgent and compliance with those requirements is not possible in the time available. A pupil also cannot be required to remove any clothing other than outer clothing.

A prohibited item is:

(1) an article to which the Criminal Justice Act 1988 s 139 applies (knives and blades etc);

(2) an offensive weapon, within the meaning of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953;

(3) alcohol, within the meaning of the Licensing Act 2003 s 191;

(4) a controlled drug, within the meaning of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 s 2

(5) a stolen article, within the meaning of the Theft Acts;

(6) an article that the member of staff reasonably suspects has been, or is likely to be, used to commit an offence, or to cause personal injury to, or damage to the property of, any person (including the pupil)

(7) an article of a kind specified in regulations (e.g. tobacco, fireworks, porn);

(8) any other item which the school rules identify as an item for which a search may be made.

A member of staff may either return an item to its owner, retain it or dispose of it, but any items that are criminal should be delivered to a police constable as soon as reasonably practicable unless the member of staff considers there is good reason to return it to the owner, retain it or dispose of it.

If the member of staff can prove that the seizure, retention or disposal of an item (including erasure of electronic files) was lawful, then they are not liable in any proceedings in respect of the seizure, retention, disposal or erasure, or any damage or loss which arises in consequence of it.

We hope that you have found this useful. Let us know what you think of the topics covered in this post in the comment section!

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