Teachers & Children Injured at School

Meet Liam Crowley

Liam Crowley is a partner at McCarthy + Co Solicitors LLP and leads our personal injury department. He has worked in litigation for almost 20 years, and in recent years he has acted almost exclusively for personal injury plaintiffs before the Circuit and High Courts, attending court venues throughout Ireland. He has handled many complex High Court actions involving multiple defendants and high-value loss of earnings claims, and he has managed investigations and claims in many wrongful death cases for families who have lost loved ones in road traffic and workplace accidents.

If you or your child has been injured in a school or other educational setting and you would like trusted, attentive advice, you can contact Liam directly at liam@mccarthy.ie.

Teachers and staff injured at school

From a legal point of view, a teacher injured at work is in the same position as an employee in any other workplace. Your school, college, or Education and Training Board owes you the same duty to provide a safe place and system of work, and the same legal principles of negligence and health and safety law apply. This applies equally to other staff, including special needs assistants, as well as administration, maintenance, cleaning, and caretaking staff.

Assaults on teachers have become more common, and they can have lasting effects. Whether the school is liable for an assault by a student depends on whether it was reasonably foreseeable. Where a pupil had a known history of violent behaviour, or was not given the special needs support they required, or where a teacher was left to supervise far more children than is reasonable, there may be a strong argument that the incident could and should have been prevented. A sudden, entirely out-of-character assault by a pupil with no such history is more difficult, because liability depends on foreseeability.

Injuries in a school are not limited to deliberate assaults. You may also have grounds for a claim where you have been affected by:

• a lack of the safety equipment or training needed to carry out your role;
• an unsafe system of work, such as being required to operate dangerous machinery while supervising a class at the same time;
• bullying, harassment, or intimidation by pupils or colleagues that management failed to address;
• a failure to follow health and safety procedures; and
• a failure to recognise and respond to the effects of a traumatic incident, including work-related PTSD.

Bringing a claim for a workplace injury should never count against you at work. It would be unlawful for management to allow a genuine claim to affect your prospects for promotion or a permanent post. If you are dealing with an ongoing problem, such as being placed under unreasonable pressure, it is wise to raise it with your union and to keep a written record, as this can help to show that the issue was brought to your employer’s attention.

Children injured at school

Schools have a legal duty to take reasonable care to protect the children in their charge. Classrooms, playgrounds, gyms, and assembly areas can all present risks if they are not properly supervised, maintained, or managed. Minor trips and falls are a normal part of school life, but where a child suffers a significant and avoidable injury because of unsafe conditions, poor supervision, or another failure by the school or its staff, it may be possible to bring a claim on the child’s behalf.

A child does face a higher bar than an injured employee, in that it must be shown the school was negligent or in breach of its duty. A school is also not automatically responsible when one pupil injures another. The key questions are whether the injury was reasonably foreseeable and whether the school took appropriate steps to prevent it, taking account of supervision levels, any previous incidents, and how known risks such as bullying were managed.

You may have grounds to bring a claim on your child’s behalf where:

• your child suffered a serious injury on school premises through unsafe conditions or a lack of supervision;
• your child was not adequately protected from violent bullying;
• your child was assaulted or otherwise harmed by a member of staff;
• the school failed to respond to the effect of bullying or harassment on your child’s mental health; or
• the school failed to comply with health and safety requirements.

Responsibility usually rests with the school authority, such as the board of management or the Education and Training Board, and with the school as occupier of the premises. Where a staff member was negligent in the course of their duties, the school authority is generally responsible for their actions. Many valid claims are never brought, sometimes because parents are unaware they have grounds, or are worried about cost. If you are unsure, it is worth speaking to a solicitor to understand where you stand.