Violent attacks in schools on the rise

Published on Friday 24 October 2008 22:26

THE number of attacks on teachers and pupils in Scottish schools is rising, according to new statistics.

Total recorded incidents, including verbal abuse, rose by 4.3 per cent last year, figures obtained from councils using the Freedom of Information Act revealed.

Physical attacks on teachers and pupils rose by 2.2 per cent between 2005-6 and 2006-7. The highest number of violent acts was in Aberdeen, with 485 incidents last year.

Other areas seeing a sharp rise were Highland, with 149 incidences of physical violence reported last year against 79 in 2005-6, and Borders, which saw a rise from 19 incidents in 2005-6 to 164 last year.

A spokesman for Scotland's biggest teaching union, the EIS,

said: "The Scottish Government and local authorities must acknowledge this serious problem and take urgent action.

"There must always be a policy of zero tolerance against the perpetrators of violent incidents, and they should be removed from classes for the safety of both pupils and teachers."

But he added: "A far greater everyday problem for schools and teachers is persistent, low-level indiscipline by pupils.

"This is immensely frustrating for both teachers and pupils, with many hours of teaching time lost dealing with incidents of petty misbehaviour."

Aberdeenshire had the second-highest number of attacks last year, with 411, though was a reduction on the 475 incidents reported in 2005-6.

Overall attacks including verbal abuse put Glasgow highest with 1,221 instances, and Aberdeen second with 761. The total number of violent attacks in Scottish schools went up from 4,508 to 4,608.

However, not every area saw a rise. Glasgow reported just eight last year compared with 64 the previous year, although that figure does not record incidents that did not result in exclusion. Edinburgh reported 190 incidents of physical violence in 2006-7 compared with 321 the previous year.

Elizabeth Smith, the Conservative schools spokeswoman, said more powers had to be given to headteachers to tackle the problem.

She said: "There has to be a much stronger line. It simply isn't acceptable that these pupils are allowed to remain in mainstream classes disrupting the education of the well-behaved majority and making life a misery for their teachers."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said any violence against teachers or pupils was unacceptable.

She added: "We want the best, most up-to-date and comprehensive evidence base on behaviour in schools.

"The next national behaviour-in-schools survey, which we have already started to commission, will be more extensive and provide results by 2009."

A spokesman for Aberdeen City Council attributed the city's high incident rate to the "scrupulous reporting" by teachers of any attacks, however minor.

Similarly, a spokeswoman from Glasgow City Council said its low incident rate could be due to teachers not reporting every minor attack.