TEACHERS across Scotland are seeing a “significant amount of violence”, according to a new report, which says pupil violence has increased over the last four years.
Scotland’s largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), published findings, based on survey results from 875 schools, showing that 82.7% of schools were reporting violent or aggressive incidents each week.
Some 72% said the amount of violence and aggression from pupils had grown in the last four years.
Prejudice-based violence rose over the same period, according to 40% of respondents.
Physical violence towards a teacher was the most common type of violence and aggression in primary and special education, while verbal abuse was the most common in secondary schools.
Some 11% of schools said teachers felt supported by their employer after pupil-on-teacher violence but 26.1% said teachers were not supported after violent and aggressive incidents.
Violent and aggressive behaviour from parents and carers is also on the rise, according to the report, with 50.5% of schools saying it was becoming more frequent.
Schools also reported a lack of time to deal with incidents, decompress, report the incident and properly engage with restorative practices.
The union’s general secretary Andrea Bradley said “lingering policies of austerity and the continuing scourge of poverty” combined to “create a society where many young people feel alienated, isolated and distressed”.
She said: “For a small but growing minority this is increasingly manifesting itself in unruly, disruptive or violent behaviour, including during the school day and aimed at staff or other pupils.”
Staff also criticised the lack of resources, training, local authority support and access to associated professionals, while local authority support was also criticised.
As a result of the increase in pupil violence and aggression, almost all schools surveyed said it was having a negative impact on pupil learning, with 99.8% indicating that teaching and learning was disrupted and 96.6% reporting it was difficult to maintain or regain pupils’ attention.
Almost all schools who responded reported an increase in stress, anxiety and depression for some teachers in their school, with 78.5% reporting that some teachers are scared of certain pupils.
Some 75.4% of schools reported a staff member being physical injured.
Some 79% of schools reported that teachers had considered leaving the profession as a result of the rise in violence and aggression towards them.
Bradley said violence and aggression in schools is a “serious and growing problem”.
She added: “This must be treated seriously, and tackled quickly, by the Scottish Government and local authorities to ensure that school pupils and staff can feel safe and be safe in our schools.
“Successive governments – both at Westminster and Holyrood – have failed to sufficiently prioritise the needs of young people, leaving many pupils in our schools struggling to cope with the many challenges they face in their everyday lives.”
She called for further support and resources to be given to schools to help mitigate against challenges faced by young people in their daily lives.
The EIS launched its Stand Up For Quality Education campaign earlier this year to address challenges schools continue to face.
Bradley wants more teachers and support staff to be recruited to tackle “crippling” workloads and emotional pressure on teachers, which she said present a “health and safety risk”.
She added: “Our young people, and all those working in our schools, have the right to expect action to address the challenges identified in our report.
“Put simply, education shouldn’t hurt.”
Earlier this month, a similar report was published by Unison, showing a 31% increase in violent incidents reported by public sector bodies such as local authorities.
The majority of incidents at local authority level were towards school support staff.
The Scottish Government and Cosla, Scotland’s local authority body, have been contacted for comment.
