Violent pupils have cut teachers’ car brakes, smashed windows and “slammed” heavy objects into people’s bodies, a union conference has heard.
Delegates at the annual conference of the ATL-section of the National Education Union have called for all schools to report violence against staff as a matter of course.
Peter Shreeve, from the Isle of Wight branch of the NEU, said that staff were “often reluctant to report violence”, because some believed that being assaulted was “part of the job” and others felt it was “not worthwhile as there [are] no consequences or management is reluctant to act”.
Recounting the violent incidents that teachers have had to contend with, he said: “I am personally aware of objects being thrown, heavy objects being slammed into bodies, students with drug issues spitting at staff, car brakes being cut, and a back windscreen being smashed on a member’s home drive.”
He went on: “A primary headteacher recently told me a member shouldn’t return to work after their summer operation as the nature of the new pupil intake in a primary school had led to restraint training for all staff, and even though most of their time would be spent in an office it would be extremely prudent if they didn’t return for some time.”
‘Lashing out’
As well as improved monitoring of violence, Mr Shreeve called for a “reverse of austerity”.
“Children now receive less support than they used to, staff have no time whatsoever to deal with issues, hence an increase in anxious students lashing out,” he said.
The conference also heard from Corrie Rayner, a science technician who works at an academy on the Isle of Wight.
She said she had recently “encountered a large group of Key Stage 3 students” on a corridor, where “one student intentionally pushed another student towards me and made me trip”.
“Luckily I was not delivering a tray of acid to the lab, which is not uncommon,” she said.
Ms Rayner said that in another work incident she had also been “mock headbutted”.
She said that “low-level aggression of this kind has become rather commonplace”, with support staff targeted “because they are often viewed as less important”.
Currently, academies and free schools have no legal responsibility to report incidences of violent behaviour.
The conference passed a motion encouraging all members to report acts of violence, and calling on all schools to “report locally so that awareness of any issues and strategies to cope are supported more widely”.
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