Changes to the Education (Physical Restraint) Rules 2024

These rules were updated in December 2024.

The key changes are the following:

• Employers must make sure that all new, beginning and overseas kaiako | teachers complete the required online resource (Physical restraint - Understanding the rules and guidelines) within 10 weeks of starting at the school.
• Adding the sponsor of a charter school to the definition of an employer.
• The option to email physical restraint incident reports has been removed. Now, all notifications must be submitted through the online incident reporting system (Rule 11).

Schools can only report incidents through either:

• Community portal
• Physical restraint incident reporting (use Chrome or Edge).

Changes to the Aramai He Tētēkura |Arise our Future Generations Guidelines

The following changes have been made to the guidelines.

• The rules summary section has been updated to include Rules 12c and 12d and included a full copy of the rules as an appendix.
• The guidelines have been aligned with the rules so that both state that from 7 February 2025, employers need to make sure there is material to support their employees to be trained and supported in recognising and responding to student distress. 
• In December 2024, we developed Aramai He Tētēkura | Arise our Future Generations learning resource for kaiako and other adults in school to support the guidelines, to recognise, and respond to ākonga distress in mana-enhancing ways.
• We have clarified that physical contact may be used when a kaiako is alone with an ākonga with a door shut to assist with personal care if previously agreed to with whānau, as part of a support plan.