Teachers and principals have the right to search through students' personal diaries, cellphones or laptops under new guidelines issued by the Education Ministry.



The guidelines, released today by Education Minister Anne Tolley, say searches and confiscations affect student rights and their privacy and should only be carried out if a student has, or is believed to have, an item that poses an immediate or direct threat to safety.



However, school staff had to protect students and themselves and searches were an option if students did not surrender dangerous items like drugs or weapons when asked to.



''Students can be subject to a search while at school but only where there is good reason to do so, in terms of providing a safe physical and emotional environment for students, and where a search can be carried out in a safe and appropriate way,'' the guidelines say.



''A 'search' is not confined to physical intrusion and includes situations where a person is required to remove items of clothing or to empty out his or her pockets. It can also involve searching a student's correspondence including written and electronic material (e.g. in a diary, on a mobile phone or on a laptop).''



Schools should inform students, in an age appropriate way, of their policy on searches.



It was also recommended that school boards tell the wider school community of the policy.



''Staff need good grounds to believe a student has an item that poses an immediate or direct threat to safety. No search should be carried out based simply on suspicion or on a random or 'drag net' basis,'' the guidelines say.



''Reasonable cause to consider a search should be based on specific information regarding the student in question.''



Evidence to support a search may be circumstantial in some cases and may also be based on information provided by others.



Education Minister Anne Tolley said the ''vast majority'' of students were well-behaved but schools had asked for more support in dealing with ''challenging behaviour'' involving weapons and drugs.



''These new guidelines should give principals and teachers more confidence to pre-empt and deal with difficult situations, and ensure that this minority of students gets the message that drugs and weapons are not acceptable in our schools,'' Tolley said.



"This will allow teachers to manage any disruptions, and get on with the important job of lifting achievement.



The Ministry was also looking in to possible legislative changes to give schools more support in what was ''a complex legal area,'' she said.