A TEACHER is attacked every four minutes amid a rising tide in violence in Scottish schools, new figures revealed.
The number of assaults recorded by staff has trebled in three years to more than 16,000 for the academic year which has just concluded.
The shock statistics include weapon attacks and staff being punched and kicked by unruly pupils according to figures acquired from local authorities across the country.
There were 16,245 “recorded assaults” on teachers in 2023-24, which works out at around 85 per school day, or one every four minutes of class time, according to data acquired by the Mail on Sunday.
Three-quarters of the attacks, over 12,000, were in primary schools, with 3,400 in secondaries, and hundreds more in Additional Support Needs facilities.
The problem is also on the rise with figures almost tripled since 2021 when around 5,600 attacks were reported.
Recorded incidents included verbal aggression and physical assaults, such as punching, kicking and spitting, as well as attacks carried out with improvised or actual weapons.
The attacks cover schools across the whole of the country with thousands of incidents in inner cities but also hundreds more in small local authorities, including rural and island communities.
Scotland’s largest local authority, Glasgow, had the most attacks, with more than 2,400 incidents in the last academic year across 171 schools.
Large council areas, including Dundee, Fife and Perth and Kinross, also each recorded more than 1,000 attacks last year, while Orkney, less than 24 school, had 97 attacks.
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Union bosses condemned the “shocking” figures but said they were not surprised by the rise.
A spokesman for the NASUWT teaching union said: “We have highlighted with the Cabinet Secretary for Education [Jenny Gilruth] since the day she took office that there was a behavioural crisis in Scotland’s schools, exacerbated by 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.”
A spokesman for the EIS teaching union 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.”
Tory MSP Liam Kerr said: “Successive SNP education secretaries have dithered as violence has soared in schools, rather than taking robust measures to protect more teachers and pupils from becoming the latest victims.
“These figures should be the cue for the SNP 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.”
The Scottish Government said: “Changes in behaviour in schools since the pandemic are well understood and work is under way to bring forward a National Action Plan to set out actions needed and this will be published as soon as feasible in the new school year.”
