Almost a third of nursery nurses and pupil-support assistants in Scotland’s capital city do not feel safe at work, according to a survey by unions on workplace violence.

The research by Unison and the EIS, Scotland’s biggest teaching union, found that more than half of nursery nurses and pupil-support assistants (50.6 per cent) have witnessed violence daily or several times per day, while 48.7 per cent have directly experienced violence at least once a week.

The unions presented councillors and senior officials in Edinburgh with an 11-point plan to tackle the issue of violence in the city’s schools and nurseries.

The survey of 1,378 staff shows that seven out of 10 nursery nurses and pupil-support assistants, and more than half of teaching staff, feel that having to suffer violence is seen by employers as being “part of the job”.

Staff said they are dissatisfied with how the council manages issues of violence and aggression.

Graham Neal, Unison Edinburgh branch communities and families vice-convener, said: “With a third of staff not feeling safe at work and 70 per cent feeling the employer just sees violence as part of the job, there is a real crisis here that the council must face up to.

“Our members are committed to the children they work with, but we need greater clarity about what happens when schools cannot meet the needs of a child.

“We are calling for a review of the criteria for placing children in special schools and schools need to be properly staffed to deal with actual intake.”

Mr Neal added: “Most of all, we need the council to recognise the problem and be clear that violence is not ‘part of the job’, and ensure that our members are given the support to manage these difficult situations.”

Almost a third (32.6 per cent) of nursery nurses and pupil-support assistants reported that they do not feel safe at work, while 40 per cent of teaching staff said they feel anxious about some classes because of worries about violence.

Almost 90 per cent of teaching staff said they have not had any relevant training on dealing with violent behaviour in school.

Alison Murphy, secretary of the EIS’s Edinburgh local association, said: “While it is important to remember that most pupils in our schools are well behaved and engaged with learning, there are, unfortunately, a minority whose behaviour is proving increasingly difficult, or impossible, to manage. This is a consequence of ‘inclusion on the cheap’.

“At exactly the same time as we started moving children with increasingly complex medical, social, emotional or learning needs into mainstream classes, we embarked on a decade of cuts in resourcing and staffing that made it impossible to meet these children’s needs.

“The impact on staff who must try to manage this, on the other children who, daily, witness violent outbursts and whose teachers cannot meet their needs because of constant crisis management, is severe.

“Maybe worst of all is the dreadful impact on these children themselves, whose behaviour is often a result of severe distress, and who need skilled, well-resourced and appropriately focused help to enable them to overcome their many challenges, but who are, instead, being failed by a system that is beyond breaking point.”

The 11-point plan includes better training and staffing levels, improved support for staff and recording of incidents, better risk assessments and targeted action where there are particular problems.

In October, it emerged that 11 staff had been suspended from an Edinburgh special school after they refused to teach eight “violent” pupils.

On the new survey, Ian Perry, education convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “We welcome this survey, as it provides additional insight into an issue that is already an upmost priority for the council. We are actively updating support and procedures for our staff and pupils, focusing on strategies to deal with positive relationships and behaviours, bullying and equality, improving outcomes for pupils who are at risk of exclusion and managing risk.

“Health and safety for all council staff is always of paramount importance and is overseen by a cross-council group chaired by the chief executive.

“We already have a far-reaching training programme in our schools, which includes restorative approaches, positive behaviour-management strategies and autism-friendly practice, and includes support from our educational psychologists and additional support for learning teams.

“Clearly we need to do more. As a start, we are looking at our proactive approaches to prevention and de-escalating incidents. In the meantime, we will not hesitate to take action to protect our staff so there is a safe learning environment for everyone. I am committed to working with the trade unions and all our staff to get this right.”