Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

89% of teachers physically or verbally attacked by pupils

Teachers are at high risks of abuse, says NASUWT.
Teachers are at high risks of abuse, says NASUWT.

Teachers are being regularly attacked by pupils, with almost a quarter saying they suffer physical violence at least once a week.

In a survey of 4,912 teachers, 89% had been subjected to physical or verbal abuse over the last year.

About 24% said pupils were physically attacking them at least once a week, and 4% said this happened every day.

The poll by teaching union the NASUWT, ahead of its annual conference in Belfast, also found 86% of teachers have been sworn at, while 42% have been verbally threatened.

Almost three in 10 (29%) have been hit, punched or kicked, and 39% have been shoved or barged.

Other attacks involved being spat at (7%), headbutted (3%), and having personal property damaged (27%).

One teacher said: “I feel unsafe in my place of work, and I feel like I have had all of my powers to deal with unruly behaviour stripped away from me.”

Another, who has since left the profession, said: “Having taught for almost 40 years I have witnessed a demonstrable and seemingly unstoppable deterioration in pupil behaviour.

“Moreover, teachers are, it seems, now expected to tolerate verbal abuse and threats as par for the course and, quite literally, an occupational hazard.”

Four in five of the respondents (81%) said abuse from pupils had affected their morale and enthusiasm for their job.

Three-quarters felt they did not have the resources or support to meet the behavioural needs of all the pupils they teach.

One said: “My school has become a frightening place over the last few years and I often try to only go on the corridors at times when I expect them to be quiet, as I simply assume I will be stampeded, pushed or sworn at.”

The majority (52%) of teachers report their school making them feel poor pupil behaviour is their fault, while 49% say the culture in their school is that verbal and physical abuse is part of the job and teachers should expect this behaviour.

One teacher said: “I work in a non-PRU (pupil referral unit) small school designed to prevent permanent exclusions.

“When I have been pushed, shoved or barged, little has happened.

“On one occasion I was punched several times and knocked over, striking my head on a radiator and spraining my thumb as well as a number of other bruises.”

Over half the teachers (57%) reported all the incidents of abuse to managers, with 41% reporting some or most of the incidents.

Only 15% felt pupils were dealt with appropriately when incidents were reported, and 6% said no action was taken by the school to tackle the perpetrators.

One teacher said: “I’m a former rugby player and have been more protected against physical violence and verbal intimidation on the pitch than I feel at work.”

Another said: “I was discouraged from reporting violence against me – this could ‘harm my career’.”

Chris Keates, NASUWT general secretary, said: “No teacher should ever have to go to work with the expectation of being verbally or physically abused, but it is clear from this survey that for too many teachers this is the day-to-day reality.

“Pupil indiscipline is now second only to workload in teachers’ concern about their job and is a contributory factor to the teacher recruitment and retention crisis.

“It is simply unacceptable that employers are failing in their legal duty of care to provide a safe working environment.”

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “Teachers and school staff have a right to be safe while doing their jobs and any form of misconduct, particularly violence towards them, is completely unacceptable.

“The majority of schools provide a safe environment for pupils and teaching staff, and it’s important that they remain as such.

“We are committed to tackling bad behaviour in schools have made great strides in empowering teachers to tackle this issue and have recently announced a £10 million investment to support schools to share best practice in behaviour management.”