WE don't want to go back to the dark days in the classroom when the geometrical drawing teacher could, without fear of correction, pick up the blackboard rubber and throw it at some chatterbox at the back of the class.

Those days have rightly been consigned to the educational dustbin, but has the justified protection of children gone so far that we have forgotten about the rights of teachers?

Today Richard Paillou tells us of his living hell as a cloud hung over him for 15 months until he was finally cleared of assaulting a pupil at St Bede's High School in Blackburn.

The whole affair seems to centre on an exchange which in years gone by would probably not have even resulted in a minor complaint.

The job of teaching in schools, where all too often pupils are more than aware of their rights, is fraught with pressures which teachers of yesteryear rarely had to consider.

Fear of litigation means that too often pupils are willing to push the boundaries to the limit - and can we honestly say that we are producing a more responsible and accountable generation of children as a result?

Teaching union leaders tell us that they are putting pressure on the government to bring about improvements in the way assault allegations are dealt with.

This is surely a key area for the authorities to look at. Clearly too many teachers are being put through the mill without justification.

Yes, rogue teachers need to be sorted out and yes, children must not be subjected to violence but teachers need to be given a platform of confidence from which to operate.

In recent years that platform has been far too heavily eroded.

If we really want our teachers to succeed we have to allow them at least some scope to operate which allows them to deal with disciplinary matters with at least a degree of robustness.