Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Fears over new pupil search law

By Sonya Bateson
Bay of Plenty Times·
5 Nov, 2013 06:45 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Te Puke school principal Alan Liddle

Te Puke school principal Alan Liddle

There are fears a law change governing how teachers can search students for items such as drugs and weapons will create a potential minefield for schools.

Changes to the Education Act come into force on January 1 and will change the rules around searching students but there is no provision for allowing for a search for stolen property.

The Ministry of Education is working with teacher groups and experienced principals to prepare guidelines so boards, principals, teachers, and staff members can understand what their powers and obligations are.

But New Zealand Principals' Federation president Philip Harding said the law change would unintentionally create potential problems for schools and he gave an example.

"If an item has gone missing in a classroom, say a chisel from a technology class, and the loss is suddenly spotted at the end of a lesson, we can't say to the group of students 'show me what's in your bag'.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"You can't prove you reasonably suspect each and every one of those people stole that chisel."

Mr Harding said he had heard concerns teachers would have to choose to break the law for the health and safety of their students and colleagues.

Te Puke High School principal Alan Liddle is a member of the sector reference group working with the ministry and said his group's job was to go through the proposed guidelines, critique them, and come up with some scenarios.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Liddle said there was a lot more work to be done before the guidelines could be released.

Otumoetai College principal Dave Randell said if there was need to search a student's bag, the person was invited to open the bag and 99 per cent of the time the student would comply.

He did not think the way the school dealt with these situations would change with the law change, but said he would know more when the guidelines were released.

NZEI immediate past president Ian Leckie, also principal of Tahatai Coast School, said if a situation ever arose where a student's belongings needed to be searched, the parents were always involved.

Ministry of Education sector capability and support Katrina Casey said the ministry was working towards having the guidelines published by the end of the year to coincide with the January 1 law change.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Eastern BoP mayors unite against council amalgamation

Bay of Plenty Times

'Mind-blowing': Chef's two-ingredient meringue breakthrough

Bay of Plenty Times

One critical, three seriously injured: BoP crash closes road


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Eastern BoP mayors unite against council amalgamation
Bay of Plenty Times

Eastern BoP mayors unite against council amalgamation

They argue amalgamation ignores Eastern Bay interests and priorities.

15 Jul 10:57 PM
'Mind-blowing': Chef's two-ingredient meringue breakthrough
Bay of Plenty Times

'Mind-blowing': Chef's two-ingredient meringue breakthrough

15 Jul 09:44 PM
One critical, three seriously injured: BoP crash closes road
Bay of Plenty Times

One critical, three seriously injured: BoP crash closes road

15 Jul 09:32 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP