"National emergency" declared as school staff in Scotland enduring shocking levels of violence from pupils

GMB Union finds evidence of appalling abuse of support staff as they work in schools across Scotland

School support staff are enduring a torrent of violence from pupils union that leaders claim is a “national emergency”.

The GMB has uncovered chilling data via Freedom of Information laws, which shows that attacks on non-teaching staff are out of control.

The latest bombshell figures- backed up by the GMB’s staff survey results - show 3,200 incidents of violence or threatening behaviour last year against school staff in Ayrshire alone.

Latest findings echo the situation revealed in a Daily Record campaign, which has shown the appalling reality of violence in against teachers and pupils in schools - and the alleged failure of the Scottish Government to do anything about it.

The GMB is launching its own campaign to enable immediate reporting of violence.

They believe the reported figures represent the tip of the iceberg.

Figures obtained under FOI legislation reveals 3200 incidents of violence or threatening behaviour last year against school staff in Ayrshire.

School staff in Borders Council reported 1012 incidents of violence or abuse while 844 were recorded in West Dunbartonshire and 718 in Stirling.

Claire Greer, GMB Scotland organiser, said councils are still refusing to acknowledge the scale of the emergency because school workers, including pupil support assistants, are not being encouraged to report every incident.

A survey of GMB members revealed two thirds of incidents are never recorded while three out of four victims said they receive no feedback if they do report an incident.

Greer said: “These figures are shocking but sadly no longer surprising.

“Violence against staff in our schools is clearly at crisis levels but official records are underestimating the scale of that crisis.

“It’s possible most of the violence inflicted on our members is not being reported, recorded or investigated and that must change urgently.

“Staff must be given the time and encouragement to report incidents properly and should expect those incidents to be properly investigated and acted on.”

Greer said staff are emerging from work shifts in a state of trauma.

She said: “No worker should go to their work in fear and feel relief if they arrive home unhurt.

“No one should to go their work to be punched, kicked, bit, spat on, and expecting to suffer verbal or physical abuse.”

Greer said the posters in schools would allow support staff to easily record details of

the violence immediately after it happened

She said: “Staff are too often expected to carry on working after an incident of

physical or verbal abuse and told to report it when they have time.

ScotGov response branded a "talking shop" by teacher who was attacked

In March this year, First Minister John Swinney was urged to tackle a “litany of broken promises” after the Daily Record exposed a youth violence epidemic.

Teachers’ union NASUWT claimed as “culture of procrastination and obfuscation” within the Scottish Government in dealing with school violence.

Ministers were accused of allowing a summit on school violence last year to become no more than a “talking shop”.

The summit was organised by Cabinet Secretary Jenny Gilruth after the Record’s campaign, Our Kids ... Our Future.

In March, a teacher who was sexually assaulted in her classroom in Glasgow told the Record the summit had been “nothing more than a talking shop”.

The secondary school teacher was punched, kicked and grabbed between her legs in a series of shocking incidents.

At the time, Gilruth admitted the system of monitoring and recording violent incidents in schools was inconsistent.

But the teacher said nothing had changed, many months later.

Another teacher told us how a classroom assault left him with a life-changing disability and unable to hold his newborn baby.

The primary school teacher said that staff are frightened to report violent attacks taking place in schools due to a “toxic culture of teacher blaming.”

“That is not good enough. Details will be lost and many staff members, who may have been shaken but unhurt, see little point in spending time on a report that, they suspect, will end up filed and forgotten.

“The posters will give staff the opportunity to easily and quickly detail what has just

happened and be confident that report is acted on.”

She added: “The Daily Record’s campaign against violence in schools has helped expose the

scale of this emergency. We now need emergency action.”

In response to the crisis, GMB Scotland is launching a new campaign within weeks, allowing school staff to report violence immediately.

Posters with a QR code linking to a reporting page will go up in schools in six council areas before being rolled out nationally. The union will then alert education authorities to the incident, ensuring it is properly recorded and investigated.

The survey of almost 800 school support staff, across janitorial, catering, admin cleaning, and classrooms, revealed 68% of workers fear the crisis has worsened over the last three years.

Almost half, 47%, of the support staff taking part do not believe local authorities take the issue of violence against workers seriously while 63% have had no training in de-escalating potentially violent situations.

The new figures from local authorities detail of violence and threats against all council staff but confirms the vast majority of incidents take place in schools.

East Dunbartonshire recorded 527 incidents across all services; Clackmannanshire 613 in schools;

Angus had 1682 across all services; Shetland 987 across all services; and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar 217 in schools.

Results for other areas are still being collated.

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