§ Ms ShipleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to her answer of 5 February 2002, (ref 31830), what the normal disciplinary procedures are that head teachers should take when(a) a member of staff and (b) a student is discovered to have used school computers for viewing pornographic material. [34599]
§ John HealeyIn the case of(a), the procedure that would apply would be the staff disciplinary procedure of the school in question. In general, misusing a school computer in this way would constitute very serious or gross misconduct, and could possibly result in dismissal. Where applicable the school's procedure may be deferred pending the outcome of criminal proceedings.
In the case of (b) the normal disciplinary procedure would be for the head teacher to consider all the relevant facts and such evidence as may be available to support the allegation made, allowing the student to give his or her version of events. If the head teacher is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the student did what he or she is alleged to have done, he or she may exclude the student for a fixed period or permanently. Misuse of computers by students to view pornographic material is a very serious matter and exclusion for a fixed period or permanently would be an appropriate response to such behaviour.
We are, however, also determined to help schools ensure that teachers and pupils do not access unsuitable material while accessing the wealth of educationally valuable material on the internet. We have produced detailed guidance for schools about the wide range of measures they can adopt. These include use of walled gardens and filtering software, monitoring and tracking pupil access, and providing 'user contracts' for pupils, spelling out how they should behave.