Can ALICE stop gun malice? Trained teachers share concerns over defence measures after Florida shooting massacre

As tributes are paid to a heroic sports coach who died protecting pupils in the Florida high school massacre, teachers across America have expressed fears over their powerlessness in the face of an armed shooter.

Assistant football coach Aaron Feis died after being shot shielding children during the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

At the same time his colleagues were urging youngsters to grab classroom objects to pitifully arm themselves in the face of an attacker with an AR-15-style rifle.

Pupil Samantha Grady, whose best friend was shot dead next to her, said the class followed the desperate suggestion of her teacher to grab a book after shots were heard.

"She just said 'grab a book, grab a book'," she said.

"So I took a book - it was a tiny book - and I held it up and I believe, maybe, that the book deterred some of the bullets so it didn't hit me so badly."

While the mass shooting has renewed debate on gun laws, teachers shared their concerns over the ALICE training defence measures they are expected to employ to protect America's 55 million primary and secondary school pupils.

• What is ALICE training?

ALICE training is a programme run by the federal Homeland Security Department across America to teach teachers how to "most effectively respond to an Active Shooter situation to minimise the loss of life".

The title is an acronym standing for: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.

Teachers are urged to employ the steps in any order depending on the nature of the threat.

But some are critical of advice that includes urging children to try to "distract" or "confuse" an armed suspect by throwing items like books as part of the "counter" method.

• What have teachers said in the wake of the Florida attack?

Stoneman Douglas High School's athletic director Chris Hixon also died in the shooting.

Teachers at the attacked school in Parkland, around 40 miles north of Miami, have pleaded with America's leaders to act rather than express sorrow.

"Here we are and we're the latest statistic on school violence," Melissa Falkowski said.

"As a society, as Americans we're failing our children, we're not keeping them safe and Congress is failing us and the government is failing us and something has to be done."