The major unions gave a broad welcome to the Violent Crime Reduction Bill, which will give more powers to police and schools to tackle knife crime. But they said that teachers' safety and legal standing would be jeopardised if they had to carry out searches themselves.
Chris Keates, general secretary of NASUWT, said: "Such an expectation would be counter productive. Not only are there risk factors involved but it could have an adverse effect on the nature of a teacher's relationship with pupils."
John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads' Association, said: "School leaders will not be willing to use these powers unless they are confident that they are also protected from litigation under civil law or the Human Rights Act."
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