ALBANY – New teachers will soon be required to undergo violence-prevention training before being certified by the state, The Post has learned.
“Certainly there’s a great need for it,” said state Education Department spokesman William Hirschen.
A new department regulation will require teachers and administrators vying for certification to take two hours of course work to help them recognize warning signs of violence and “other troubling behaviors in children.”
The training must touch on effective techniques for classroom management and different social and problem-solving skills.
The president of the union representing New York City teachers welcomed the new certification requirement, saying it’s “relevant to the everyday work a teacher does.”
“Requiring it will help new teachers learn how to really defuse situations before they become problems,” United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said.
The union, Weingarten said, for a decade has offered a voluntary, six-hour, violence-prevention course.
The Education Department regulation, which will take effect Feb. 2, is part of an overall legislative and regulatory package aimed at combating violence.
Under that package, much of which was adopted this past spring, assaults on teachers are now considered felonies. Teachers will also have the authority to remove disruptive students from classrooms.
The department is giving all school districts until July 1 to develop codes of conduct and safety plans.
The codes will define appropriate and inappropriate conduct, dress and language on school grounds.
They must also spell out “the appropriate range of disciplinary measures” for disrupting class, fighting, and possessing or using drugs and weapons on school grounds.