This year, sniffer dogs and drug testing in schools are in. Last year they were out.
Only last December, The Daily Telegraph reported education department views that use of a drugs tester in schools was "not really appropriate". A spokesman said sweeps by dogs "flew in the face of department guidelines drawn up after taking advice from the Association of Chief Police Officers".
The advice was clear: "A department of education spokesman said it considered that dogs should only be used in schools by police officers executing a warrant, and only then with 'extreme caution'."
But in the newly published Guidance to Schools on Drugs, the department says of sniffer dogs: "Head teachers are best placed to make decisions on whether such approaches are appropriate."
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