Epidemic of violence in Scots classrooms as UK's top schools chief blasts SNP for allowing problem to spiral out of control

A teacher is assaulted by a pupil every four minutes amid a rising tide of violence across Scotland’s schools, shocking new figures have revealed.

The number of assaults rose to more than 16,000 for the academic year just ended, a figure which has trebled in just three years.

It includes attacks with weapons and repeated assaults involving staff being kicked and punched – often with no action other than ‘restorative chats’ taken against violent children.

Experts said this has allowed the problem to increase, and now completely spiral out of control, with a small number of violent pupils wrecking the education of thousands of their peers.

Tom Bennett, the UK’s Government’s top advisor on behaviour in schools, described SNP Government policy on school discipline, which includes a mantra of ‘inclusion’ at all costs as ‘nonsense’ which must immediately ‘be consigned to the bin’.

Writing today in this newspaper, Glasgow-born Mr Bennett, a former teacher in Inner London, said: ‘We need to turn this around, and fast.

‘We are creating a generation of children who are growing up to believe that they can do anything they want.

‘These figures are shocking and depressing, but they resonate with all of the reports I hear from teachers inside schools, who have to endure often horrendous levels of abuse and violence.’

Figures obtained from Scotland’s local authorities show there were at least 16,245 ‘recorded assaults’ on teachers in 2023-24 which works out at approximately 85 per school day, or one every four minutes of class time.

Three-quarters of the attacks, over 12,000, were in primary schools, with 3,400 in secondaries, and hundreds more in Additional Support Needs locations.

Sources said ‘recorded’ incidents were the ‘tip of the iceberg’. The problem is also on the rise, with the figure having trebled, from around 5,600 attacks, since 2021.

One said: ‘Things were bad, and getting worse, but the situation has reached crisis point following Lockdown. There is now a generation coming through whose education is being wrecked by violence in their classes, as well as the poor teachers who are taking the brunt of it, day in, day out.’

Recorded attacks included verbal onslaughts to physical attacks, including with fists, feet, and spitting, and attacks with weapons, actual or improvised.

The attacks covered schools the length and breadth of the country, from thousands of incidents in inner cities, but also with hundreds more in small local authorities including island communities.

Glasgow saw the most attacks, with more than 2,400 incidents in the academic year just ended, albeit the local authority is Scotland’s largest, with 171 schools.

The city council also said there had been an ‘increase in the recording of incidents’ by staff and that their Violence Management Policy has been issued following a review.

Other large authorities, including Dundee, Fife and Perth and Kinross, also each recorded more than 1,000 attacks last year while Orkney, with less than two dozen schools, recorded 97 attacks.

A spokesman for the NASUWT teaching union said: ‘These figures are shocking but not surprising.

‘We have highlighted with the Cabinet Secretary for Education since the day she took office that there was a behavioural crisis in many of Scotland’s schools, exacerbated by the impact of the pandemic, which was leading to increased violence and abuse against teachers.

‘It is imperative a National Action Plan is published as soon as possible, and includes nationally agreed strategies to address dangerous and disruptive behaviour, including a consistent set of consequences for pupils.’

An EIS spokesman said: ‘Additional investment is needed as a matter of urgency, and we are calling on the Scottish Government to employ more teachers, reduce class sizes and increase funding for specialist additional support needs provision.’

Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Liam Kerr MSP said: ‘Successive SNP education secretaries have dithered as violence has soared in schools, rather than taking robust measures to protect yet more teachers and pupils from becoming the latest victims.

‘These figures should be the cue for the SNP Government to stop dragging their heels.

‘They must start listening to the solutions that we, the unions, teachers and so many others keep telling them, and deal with this as a matter of urgency.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Changes in behaviour in Scotland’s schools since the pandemic are well understood and this is why the Cabinet Secretary committed to holding a series of summits focused on behaviour, convened the headteacher’s taskforce, and published the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research in November.

‘Work is also well underway to bring forward a joint National Action Plan with COSLA to set out the actions needed at local and national level and this will be published as soon as feasible in the new school year.’

ENDS