Brian Banks, a teacher at Hazelwood College, Newtownabbey, said it’s a big debate in the sector, with different schools adapting different policies.
However, his view is that “having a strict policy about using the toilet is madness”.
“In our school, except for the first and last five minutes of class, pupils can use the toilet whenever they ask.
“I know some schools lock toilets at various times, but ours are pretty much always available.”
He said notes were kept of bathroom breaks, so year heads could look and see “patterns of toilet behaviour”, but overall Banks said it was a “humane approach”.
“If they ask and I say no, then they have an accident, that pupil is going to be humiliated to the point of being psychologically scarred, and I’m likely going to end up in front of an industrial tribunal, and rightly so.”
Banks said it could be “extremely disruptive” permitting every classroom departure that is requested but said “it’s the only way”.
“Even if 95% of the time I am right when I think a pupil is a malingerer who doesn’t really need to use the bathroom and just wants to go for a walk around the school, that 5% of the time I’m wrong is what matters. So why take the chance?”
