Litigation Against Schools: The Contemporary Challenges for School Management

About
Programme
Chair and Speakers
Reservations and Fee

About the course

Date
- 2 December 2017
Time
- 9.30 – 1.30 pm
Venue
- Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin
CPD Hours/Numbers
- 2.25

School management today is faced with several challenges. Technology brings dangers as well as benefits. Legislation requires schools to deliver several policies, each of them excellent in isolation, but difficult to accomplish in combination. Courts and tribunals scrutinise procedures to ensure that school management complies with the requirements of health and safety, the duty of care, due process and equality. The task is not impossible but it certainly is demanding.

The Law School of Trinity College Dublin is holding a conference on the morning of Saturday, 2 December, designed to inform school principals, teachers, Boards of Management and others with management responsibilities about all the latest legal developments. The aim is to clarify how best school management can deliver its goals.

The team of speakers has special expertise. There will be an opportunity for questions and discussion.

Amongst the questions to be considered:

Must there always be a teacher in the classroom
In games such as football or basketball, is it necessary that the team players be matched in accordance with their size or can age be used as the sole criterion
If a school student is seen using drugs in a pub at the weekend, is this a matter that can call for disciplinary intervention
Is a school liable where one student bullies another
If a student has a disability, other than a visual disability, and seeks to have a dog with him or her during school hours, may the school refuse on the basis of a “no animals” policy
Where parents have separated, what are the implications for school management
What are the legal aspects of controls on the use of phones and other technology during school hours
What are the most significant recent developments on health and safety obligations of schools
If a child is involved in a traffic accident when on a school tour, is the school liable
What are the practical implications of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 for school management
If a student fares very poorly in a national examination, are there any circumstances in which the school may be sued for educational neglect
If a pupil comes to the school with a record of having assaulted another pupil while at the previous school, what practical burden is placed on the new school management
If a student is injured as a result of the unsafe design of school premises, does the school have any legal responsibility

Programme

9.00	Registration
9.30	Duty of Care: Recent Developments in the Courts	Professor William Binchy
10.00	>Autonomy, Neutrality and Religious Symbolism in Schools Across Europe, there is increasing debate about the display of religious symbols in schools and, in particular, about whether it is acceptable for schools to restrict a pupil’s ability to wear religious garments (in particular various kinds of Islamic veil). On the one hand, this seems to strike at the student’s right to religious freedom, but on the other it has been argued that there are a range of reasons not to permit such garments to be warn – in particular because of the perception that they interfere with the necessary ideological neutrality of a classroom environment. These questions are teased out in this paper.	Professor Neville Cox
10.30	Family law issues: the rights of parents and families in Irish law Schools are often faced with difficult issues regarding children whose parents and families are in conflict, for example the right to be provided with information on the child's academic progress. This paper will address the rights of parents and other family members under Irish law and provide guidance to teachers and schools on the legal principles that apply when dealing with these issues.	Prof. Patricia Brazil BL
11.00	Tea/Coffee
11.20	Implications for Schools of Irish Equality Legislation This paper examines the impact of the Equal Status Acts 2000-2015 and the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015 on school policies in relation to such areas as recruitment of staff and conditions of employment, enrolment of pupils, reasonable accommodation of pupils with disabilities, discipline and harassment.	Dr. David Prendergast
11.50	Teachers' complaints of Bullying and Harassment: The Changing Legal Landscape This paper explores the impact of the landmark Supreme Court decision this year in the Ruffley case, which the Court has described as setting 'the benchmark' for bullying claims in Irish law. The presentation will assess the implications of this decision for principals and boards of management, as well as locating the case in its broader legal context, including an update on vicarious liability principles relevant to bullying and harassment claims in schools.	Professor Des Ryan BL
12.20	Disciplinary procedures: What the Courts Require of Schools Schools must maintain discipline. In doing this, they have to act in accordance with the legal requirements, under legislation and the common law. Courts are slow to subject trivial issues to judicial review proceedings but school management has to be aware of how issues that may initially seem small can rapidly escalate. Recent case law and the statutory framework will be examined	Dr. Ciaran Craven SC
12.50	Questions and Discussion
1.30	Conference ends

The right to substitute and rearrange lecture(r)s is reserved.

Chair and Speakers

William Binchy is a practising barrister and Adjunct Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin. He is co-author of McMahon and Binchy's Law of Torts (4th ed., 2013) and (with Raymond Byrne) of the Annual Review of Irish Law, now in its thirtieth year of publication.

Dr. Patricia Brazil

, LL.B. M.Litt., Ph.D., Barrister-at-Law is a former scholar of the College. She was appointed Averil Deverell Lecturer in Law in October 2007, and lectures in Family law, Criminal law and Refugee and Immigration law. Her research interests include family and child law, domestic immigration and asylum law and criminal law.

Dr. Neville Cox, BL is Associate Professor, Dean of Graduate Studies and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. He is author, with Eoin McCullough SC, of Defamation: Law and Practice (June, 2014), and co-author of Employment Law in Ireland (2009) and of Sport and the Law (2004) .

Dr. Ciaran Craven is a Senior Counsel. He is co-author of Psychiatry and the Law (2nd ed. 2010) and books tort litigation and medical negligence litigation.

Dr. Desmond Ryan is a practising barrister specialising in employment law and an assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin, where he lectures in employment law and torts. He is co-author of Employment Law in Ireland (2009) and has published widely on the subject in a number of journals, including the Irish Employment Law Journal.

Professor Gerry Whyte is Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin and Director of the Master of Laws Degree programme. He is author of Social Inclusion and the Legal System: Public Interest Law in Ireland, published by the Institute of Public Administration (2nd ed., 2015), co-author of Irish Trade Union Law and co-editor of the fourth edition of John Kelly's The Irish Constitution. He is also actively involved with various NGOs targeting social exclusion.

Reservations

Fees

€120 for 1, €215 for 2, €305 for 3; €380 for 4 or €450 for 5

Note: Fees are inclusive of tea/coffee breaks and conference materials. Cheques should be made payable to TCD No. 1 Account. Invoices may be requested for payments by bank transfer.

Reservations

Please complete the booking form[2] below and send it by post or email to lawevent [at] tcd.ie.