Children are constantly told that school is “preparing them for the workforce,” as if that’s some profound educational philosophy rather than a tired slogan wheeled out to justify anything. But here’s the plot twist, the actual work place has rights!
Under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, employers must provide clean, accessible, well‑lit toilets. They cannot tell employees to “hold it until break.” That would be a health and safety breach — potentially even discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. Adults get toilets. Adults get dignity. Adults get legal protection.
But children? Apparently children live in a parallel universe where basic human biology is treated like a moral weakness.
In schools, needing the toilet magically transforms into a “behaviour issue.” Being human becomes “disruptive.” And denying kids access to a toilet , something that would get any employer HR fearful of being sued, is repackaged as “building resilience.”
And the punchline? Teachers themselves are protected. If a teacher needs the toilet, they ask for cover. No punishment. No lecture. No “wait until break.” Because adults are allowed to be human. Adults are allowed to have bodily functions. Adults are allowed dignity.
Children, meanwhile, are expected to sit in discomfort so the school can maintain the illusion of control — even when that control directly contradicts the very safeguarding principles the Department for Education claims to uphold.
We’ve normalised a system where children are subjected to treatment that would be illegal, unethical, and professionally catastrophic in any workplace. But slap a school badge on it, and suddenly it’s “for their own good.”