More than four in five teachers feel the number of pupils exhibiting violent and abusive behaviours has increased, a new survey suggests.
The poll by the NASUWT teaching union, released on the first day of the union’s annual conference in Liverpool, revealed a concerning trend of violence and abuse directed towards teachers by their pupils, including being punched, kicked, shoved or spat at.
Of the more than 5,800 NASUWT members in the UK who were surveyed in January, two in five (40 per cent) have experienced physical abuse or violence from pupils in the last 12 months.
One in five (20 per cent) said they had experienced being hit or punched by pupils in the last year, while 38 per cent of respondents said they had been shoved or barged.
About one in six (16 per cent) said they had been kicked by pupils, while 9 per cent said they had been spat at.
Delegates will debate a motion on Friday which suggests that reports of “extreme pupil indiscipline” – including incidents involving knives and other weapons – are on the rise.
The motion calls on the union’s executive to work with the Government to ensure teachers have the “unequivocal support” of ministers in taking action to secure “positive learner behaviour”.
It adds that the guidance on behaviour management should be strengthened to ensure “no exclusion” policies are “not legitimised” across the sector, and mandatory time is introduced for teachers to access national continuing professional development (CPD) on behaviour management strategies.
One teacher who responded to the survey said, “I have had two children use a fire hydrant as a weapon. One at my head, another to my foot.”
Another said: “This morning I was told to, ‘go die, I hope you die.’”
Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “Pupil behaviour has long been an issue for teachers, but recent years have seen an unprecedented surge in levels of violence and abuse in the classroom.
“Based on our latest data, we estimate as many as 30,000 violent incidents against teachers involving pupils with a weapon in the last 12 months.
“Many teachers are having to think about how they can survive in the classroom before they can begin to focus on their teaching and pupils’ learning.
“We are calling for the establishment of a national inter-agency forum on school safety and security that is led and chaired by ministers.
“We are also calling on the Government to invest in properly funded services to identify and tackle the root causes of pupil violence and aggression.”
At the National Education Union’s (NEU) conference in Harrogate on Wednesday, a motion on violence, which warned of “a crisis” in schools where some pupils behave in ways which are “dangerous” to staff, was passed.
But the motion, which noted “increasing levels of violence” in schools, called on the NEU executive to campaign to ensure pupils involved in challenging behaviour were “not excluded” from the education system.
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