Violence Against Scottish School Staff Reaches Record Highs

Scotland has emerged with Britain’s highest rate of violent injuries to school staff reported to safety watchdogs, with incidents that include fractures, dislocations, and loss of consciousness more than tripling over the past decade, according to a new investigation.

Teachers across Scotland, many speaking publicly for the first time, have shared harrowing accounts of classroom violence with Channel 4 News’ FactCheck team. One educator, who requested anonymity, described being locked in a small room by a student who “threw chairs at my head.” The attack left her unconscious and resulted in a neurological disorder causing partial blindness in both eyes.

Data obtained through Freedom of Information requests to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed 490 injuries to Scottish school staff with “violence” listed as the cause over the ten years leading to March 2024. This represents the highest rate in Great Britain when adjusted for population, surpassing all English regions and Wales. Northern Ireland falls outside the HSE’s jurisdiction.

The problem appears particularly acute in Scottish primary schools, which account for approximately two-thirds of all reported incidents. The most recent year’s data showed 91 injuries – triple the number recorded a decade earlier and representing the fastest increase anywhere in Britain.

Mike Corbett, Scotland national official for the NASUWT teaching union, called the findings “hugely disturbing” and said they reinforce what members have been reporting: serious incidents of abuse and violence aren’t being appropriately addressed. While acknowledging most pupils behave well, he noted that a disruptive minority has grown, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many teachers pointed to concerns about Scotland’s widespread adoption of “restorative” disciplinary approaches, which prioritize dialogue over traditional punishments like detentions or exclusions. The Scottish Government officially designated this as a “key approach” in its 2017 guidance for schools.

Corbett argued that restorative approaches are only “appropriate for low-level disruption, not for more serious issues.” He described scenarios where students are “marched by a member of senior management to the teacher who was at the heart of the incident, and some kind of forced apology being made, and that being the end of the matter. Then they’re straight back in the classroom, and that’s just wholly inappropriate.”

Union representatives also highlighted insufficient staffing and resources for the growing number of children with additional needs in mainstream Scottish schools.

Karen Simpson, a former primary school teacher who left the profession in 2019 partly due to increasing classroom violence, shared her experiences of being kicked, hit, and spat at by children as young as five. Based in Inverness, Simpson described a troubling shift in disciplinary approaches.

“There was definitely a shift from being able to implement certain consequences which showed children that behaviour wasn’t OK, more towards a positive, restorative conversation,” she said. “And that really wasn’t working.”

Simpson, who now runs a tutoring business, observed that violent children were often given toys, games, or playground time to calm down. “So to the children in the class, it’s seen as, ‘They are being rewarded for that behaviour. So maybe I should do that and I’ll get rewarded for my behaviour too,'” she explained.

In response to mounting concerns about classroom disruption and aggression, the Scottish Government published a behavior action plan last year, followed by new guidance suggesting schools combine restorative approaches with “other appropriate consequences.” While Corbett welcomed the plan, he noted it hasn’t yet been implemented in enough schools.

A Scottish Government spokesperson stated they are “providing support and direction at a national level, including the publication of the National Behaviour Action Plan,” with ongoing work “to determine what more can be done to support pupils with additional support needs.” The spokesperson emphasized that local councils, which are responsible for education delivery in Scotland, are expected to implement the behavior guidance.

As schools across Scotland continue to grapple with these challenges, teachers, unions, and policymakers face mounting pressure to find effective solutions that ensure both student development and staff safety.