Volume 10 Gary E. Downs, Timothy F.
Gerard, and Jack A. Gerlovich Classroom
Management
Safety should be everyone's
concern. People who behave in an unsafe manner not only expose
themselves to a greater risk of accident or ill health, but increase
their chance of being held legally liable for injury to the property
and health of others. For example, a careless driver endangers more
than his or her own life; by also endangering the lives of others, he
or she increases the chances of being legally liable in an accident.
There is a direct correlation between safety and the conduct the law
expects of us all.
The civil law expressed throughout the 50 states presumes that people have an obligation to behave reasonably where their conduct affects other people. This is an extension of the criminal law, which is designed to protect the lives and property of citizens. The proscriptions embodied in criminal law are considered undisputed specific dictates of reason. But, in a free society, it is neither possible nor desirable to specify everything that citizens ought to do to preserve order within society.
How, then, should science educators conduct themselves in order to avoid being found negligent and held liable for damages arising out of an accident? Although the law does not say that accidents always result from negligence (they often happen through the fault of no one), there is a tendency in a complex technological society to try to assign fault and apportion liability accordingly. This is especially true in education, where students are presumed to be under the care and protection of their teachers. A science educator, then, must conform to what other science educators would consider reasonable in order to minimize their risk of legal liability. This recommendation is largely common sense. For example, a science teacher who asked a student to pour water into concentrated acid to demonstrate its explosive effect would surely be found negligent. More technical matters, however, require judgement and testimony by other science teachers who are familiar with the given situation. The operative question revolves around what consensus opinion would be as to the reasonableness of this conduct.by others in the science education profession. For this reason it is of the utmost importance that educators keep abreast of the developments in their profession in terms of safety and the content they teach.
Thereafter, educators must accept their responsibility to implement safe conduct in three main areas: first is the duty to adequately supervise students, to "keep a watchful eye." Improper supervision is the single greatest cause of legal liability in science education. Proper supervision will prevent most accidents. The second duty is to inform students of all foreseeable and reasonable hazards. A teacher must tell students all that they need to know to participate safely in any given learning project; the appropriate and accurate dissemination of information relevant to student safety should be an integral part of lesson planning. The third duty is to maintain safe equipment and a safe environment in which students learn. All three duties pertain to the teacher's responsibility when in charge of students in a learning situation. Again, the duties must be performed according to the acceptable standards of the profession to insure protection from legal liability.