Assaults on teachers by primary school pupils in Dundee have soared by more than a quarter over the past year.
In the year between August 2010 and July 2011 there were 215 assaults either verbal or physical on teachers. This is a leap of 47 on the previous year’s 168 incidents.
During the same period, assaults on secondary teachers dropped by a fifth, from 100 in 2009/10 to 80 assaults by pupils last year.
In addition, nine members of staff have been reported for alleged assaults on pupils at Dundee schools over the past five years, four of whom were either suspended or dismissed from their posts.
The number of assaults by primary pupils on teachers has risen sharply over the past five years. Over the same period assaults by secondary pupils have dropped significantly.
In the year from August 1 2006 to July 31 2007 there were 147 assaults by primary pupils, and 132 in secondary schools. In 2007/08 it was 203 primary and 96 secondary, 2008/09 127 and 106, 2009/10 there were 168 and 100.
The latest figures for 2010/11 were revealed after a freedom of information request by The Courier following the Linda Ross employment tribunal (link).
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: ”Statistics concerning violence against Dundee City Council staff are regularly considered and discussed by councillors in reports to the scrutiny committee.
”This is an important part of the council’s efforts to ensure that all reasonable steps are being taken to protect employees who are carrying out their duties.
”We condemn any physical and verbal violence against staff, who should be able to work without fear of attack. The education department always treats any assaults on teachers extremely seriously and staff are encouraged to report violent incidents.
”The city council regularly discusses violent incidents with the trade unions. Our policy on dealing with violence and assaults against teachers has been approved by the trade unions through the Dundee Negotiating Committee for Teachers process.
”Procedures are in place in schools so that pupils displaying unacceptable behaviour are dealt with appropriately.”
Teachers recently warned part of the problem may be down to the rising number of special needs children in mainstream schools after figures showed there were almost 8,000 incidents of violence against teachers in Scotland in the last three years, more than two thirds of which were in primary schools.
According to all local authority figures, a total of 5,396 incidents of violence were reported against primary school teachers in the last three years and 2,540 assaults logged by secondary teachers.
Separate figures uncovered earlier this year showed the number of assaults on school staff overall had risen by more than a quarter over the past 12 months.
They also revealed classroom assistants, janitors, secretarial and catering staff as well as teachers are subjected to a violent attack every ten minutes of the school day.
Unions have warned the situation may be even worse as there are concerns some schools are covering up incidents.
Scottish education secretary Michael Russell recently said the vast majority of pupils are well behaved and independent research showed behaviour has been improving over the past five years.