A TEACHING union has branded the SNP Scottish government’s long-awaited guidance on the use or restraint in schools as “unfit for purpose” and slammed it for putting teachers’ safety at risk.

The remarks from the NASUWT came as SNP Education Minister Jenny Gilruith published the guidance today amid growing concerns from pupils, parents and school staff at escalating violence in Scotland’s classrooms.

The new guidance bans the use of restraints such as holding a child on the ground or applying pressure on the torso or joints, and its use as a punishment or to gain “compliance,” saying: “Restraint should only be used to avert immediate risk of physical injury to any person where no less restrictive alternatives are viable.