Magnus was held down by several teachers: 'I didn't feel I could trust them afterwards'

Two years ago, 14-year-old Magnus Ivarsen was physically held down on the floor by several teachers.

"There were three teachers on top of me, some holding onto my legs. I could barely breathe," he says.

This happened because Magnus Ivarsen was angry, frustrated, and swinging a stick in a situation at school. But the incident and other situations where he was physically restrained have stayed with him.

"I was scared, and I felt like I couldn't trust them afterwards," he says.

We have reached out to Magnus Ivarsen's former school, which did not wish to comment on the incident.

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More options for intervention

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Today, the Danish Parliament is set to consider a new bill that gives teachers more options to use physical force against students.

As a new element in the bill, teachers will not only be able to intervene against students who pose a danger to themselves or others.

They will also be able to physically intervene against students who significantly disrupt teaching or psychologically harass others. Physical intervention, however, must still be a last resort.

But neither Magnus Ivarsen nor his mother, Marianne Ivarsen, think this is a good idea.

She has seen how the repeated restraints have affected her son.

"Then his entire body reacts with a panic attack, where he shakes. He can have a reaction when he comes home, where he cries. Even though the situations he experiences at his new school aren't severe, his body remembers it all," she says.

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What is the bill about?

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The bill introduces, as a new feature, that a teacher can use physical intervention if a student significantly disrupts teaching or commits psychological harassment.

It also states that all other relevant and less intrusive options must have been exhausted.

Physical intervention can be used against students who:

1. Damage things or property

2. Physically harass others

3. Expose themselves or others, consciously or unconsciously, to physical danger

4. Psychologically harass others

5. Significantly disrupt teaching for others

Physical intervention may only occur exceptionally and must never replace care and pedagogical efforts.

Source: Ministry of Children and Education ( https://uvm.dk/aktuelt/nyheder/2026/oktober/nyt-lovforslag-laerere-skal-have-mulighed-for-at-gribe-fysisk-ind-ved-konflikter-i-skolen/ )

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Physical intervention creates insecurity

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Several researchers have criticized the bill. One of them is Louise Klinge, an independent child and school researcher and member of the Children's Council, who believes that physical intervention damages the relationship between teacher and student.

>

> It would be so humiliating for the child that they would be even less

> willing to follow the teacher's leadership

>

"When you remove a child who is disrupting, many children will resist, and then the teacher risks being exposed to even more acting-out behavior from the child. It would be so humiliating for the child that they would be even less willing to follow the teacher's leadership," she says.

And Magnus Ivarsen can recognize that from the experiences he himself had with being restrained at his former school. Today, he attends a different school where he has not experienced the use of physical force.

But he is still affected if he sees it happen to others.

"If the teacher grabs one of the other children, I can feel it. Then I think about how I would feel if it were me. I wouldn't feel very good about it, and I would thrash around out of control," he says.

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