DC905: Teachers within the contemporary post-primary school setting are operating within a radically transformed legal context: Professional Master of Education Assignment, DCU, Ireland

• Teachers within the contemporary post-primary school setting are operating within a radically transformed legal context.’ Critically evaluate this statement with reference to what you consider to be some of the seminal legal changes that have impacted most on the work and role of the teacher over the last two decades.
• Conor is a Sixth Year student of St. Trinian’s Secondary School and is preparing to sit his Leaving Certificate Examination. During the Christmas Holidays, Conor was observed by one of his teachers smoking cannabis at a private party. When he was questioned by the Principal, he admitted to smoking cannabis for his own personal use.
  The Principal made contact by phone with Conor’s parents and informed them that he was being suspended immediately from school, pending the convening of a special meeting of the Board of Management to consider the matter. A special meeting of the Board was convened one week later, at which the Principal recommended that Conor be expelled from the school on the grounds that he was in breach of the school’s Substance Abuse Policy and that his action had brought the good name of the school into disrepute.
  Conor’s parents, who were invited to attend the Board meeting, argued that the sanction of expulsion would be seriously disproportionate in the circumstances, given that the incident had taken place during the school holidays and outside the jurisdiction of the school and that their son had enjoyed a good record in the school.

(i) What legal factors should be taken into account by a school when formulating and implementing its policy on school exclusions?
(ii) With specific reference to the above scenario, consider the legal difficulties pertaining to the scope and application of a school’s code of behavior. What factors should the Board of Management take into account in arriving at its decision concerning Conor?