A teacher was awarded nearly £1 million in compensation following a serious assault by a pupil, a union has revealed. Ahead of its annual conference in Birmingham over the Easter weekend, the Nasuwt teaching union released figures for compensation awarded to its members.
One case involved a member who was unlikely ever to be able to return to teaching after suffering a serious assault at the hands of a pupil, and was awarded £850,000 through the union. The teacher was punched in the face and kicked by the pupil during a science lesson at his London school. At the time of the incident in January 2017 the pupil was not supposed to be in the teacher’s lesson because of previous violent and disruptive behaviour.
As a result of the attack, the teacher suffered various physical and psychological injuries, including a head injury, tinnitus, hearing loss, bruising, back and ankle injuries, PTSD and severe depression. Since the attack, he has been unable to work and medical experts have said it is unlikely he will ever be able to return as a result of the physical and psychological trauma he experienced.
