Lobbyists Magazine
August 4, 2023
Author: Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Gadžić, Faculty of Physical Culture and Sports Management, the only Faculty of Sports at Singidunum University, Belgrade
According to the current law in our country, all students attending school have the right to protection and safety within the school building and schoolyard, on the way between home and school, and outside the school building and schoolyard – during educational activities or other activities organized by the school.
Each school, based on this law, prescribes Rules on measures, methods, and procedures for the protection and safety of students during educational activities and other activities organized by the school. These rules typically state that the protection and safety of students are ensured through:
– Physical protection and safety
– Health protection and safety
– Emotional and social protection and safety
Apart from these formal forms of ensuring health protection and safety of students in school, there are areas that are not clearly and thoroughly defined by the law. Physical and health education, due to its specificities, certainly represents the “riskiest” part of the entire educational process.
We occasionally witness sensationalist headlines about students breaking a leg, an arm, or suffering even worse injuries during physical education classes due to a teacher’s oversight. Unfortunately, such headlines are sometimes accurate. Sometimes a teacher inadvertently makes a mistake, and an accident occurs, leading to the teacher being held accountable. The responsibility of physical and health education teachers for the health and safety of students is undoubtedly the greatest among all other subject teachers. This relationship indicates the need for clearly defined rules and procedures that the teacher should undertake during regular classes and in situations when accidents occur.
In the absence of concrete solutions to these uncertainties, and to avoid numerous unwanted situations, greater risks, misunderstandings, and the like, physical and health education teachers must logically and responsibly try to do everything in their power to prevent them.
A teacher should, first and foremost, establish routines and rules that students must be aware of and adhere to, which relate to:
– Calm arrival of students to the locker room and changing (preferably supervised by the teacher)
– Ensuring that students wear the prescribed clothing and footwear for the class
– Jewelry, badges, watches, and any other “accessories” must be removed during changing
– Prohibiting entry into the gym before the teacher
– Informing students about all important aspects of the upcoming class
– Giving special instructions depending on the activities to be carried out
– Preparing equipment and tools in advance
– Informing students when they can start the activity and when they must stop the activity
Adhering to all these routines or so-called “rules” of work will greatly prevent accidents during physical education classes, but despite taking all precautions, accidents sometimes still occur.
In such cases, it is necessary to have clearly defined procedures by the school (or educational authorities?). The fact is that such procedures (as far as the author knows) do not exist in our educational practice, and teachers handle these situations as best they can.
Our legislation has recognized the existence of problems related to providing first aid in case of work injuries, and a few years ago, the Rulebook on the method of providing first aid, the type of equipment and supplies that must be provided at the workplace, and the method and deadlines for training employees in providing first aid came into effect. Considering the importance of regulating the area of child safety in schools, it seems that most provisions of this Rulebook would have full applicability in the school context.
Namely, this document specifies that companies are obliged to provide first aid, train an appropriate number of workers to provide first aid, and provide first aid supplies considering assessed risks, technological processes, organization, nature and scope of work processes, the number of employees involved in the work process, the number of work shifts, the number of geographically separated units, the frequency of injuries at work, and the distance to the nearest medical facility.
Some schools have started to comply with this Rulebook and train a certain number of teachers to provide first aid. For now, the situation is such that every sincere educator will surely immediately assist a child in need, but some uncertainties need to be clarified. Namely, despite the fact that all graduated physical education teachers have acquired certain knowledge in sports medicine, anatomy, physiology, corrective gymnastics, etc., during their education, this does not legally give them any medical qualifications. In this sense, the recommendation would be that all physical and health education teachers, as an additional form of training, complete courses (or another form of professional training) in first aid. Additionally, this would be highly desirable for all other teachers as well.
Only after completing a certified first aid course would teachers have the legal basis to provide it. When an accident occurs, the teacher should then provide first aid on the spot in accordance with the severity of the injury.
If it is a more serious injury such as fractures, significant bleeding, loss of consciousness, etc., the student must be transported to a medical facility (by school transport, a teacher’s car, or an ambulance) if it is safe to do so. For this purpose, the emergency phone number (194) should be prominently displayed near the gym (or in the gym itself) or in a visible place in the school. According to the previously prescribed Rulebook on the norms of school space, equipment, and teaching aids for primary schools, the physical and health education teacher’s office should also be equipped with a first aid cabinet.
1. Law on the Fundamentals of the Education System. Official Gazette RS 72/09, 52/11, 55/13, 35/15, and 68/15.
2. Rulebook on the Method of Providing First Aid, the Type of Equipment and Supplies that Must Be Provided at the Workplace, and the Method and Deadlines for Training Employees in Providing First Aid. Official Gazette RS 109/2016.
3. Official Gazette SRS – Educational Gazette, No. 4/90.