More than half of special educational needs (SEN) teachers have been physically assaulted by their pupils, a survey shows.

The survey, by the NASUWT teaching union, received 1,615 responses from SEN teachers working throughout Britain in special and mainstream schools as well as pupil-referral units (PRUs).

Nearly three-fifths (59 per cent) said they had been attacked in the past year, and 74 per cent said they had experienced verbal abuse.

Teachers revealed that they had been headbutted, punched, kicked, bitten and spat on, sometimes on a daily basis, leaving them bruised and injured. One teacher said they had received more abuse than friends who were police and prison officers.

Some teachers said the attitude from their school leaders was that being attacked was “part of the job” when dealing with children with complex needs.

One SEN teacher said: “It is believed that because we work in a special school, the abuse, physical and verbal assaults come with the job, so it has to be a serious assault with injuries and medical attention [and] sick leave to be taken as serious.”

More than a fifth (21 per cent) of teachers said they were only encouraged to report some incidents, and 7 per cent said they were not encouraged to report incidents to their school. Nearly a third (30 per cent) said they rarely or never got the support they needed to teach children with SEN effectively.

‘All part of the job’

Chris Keates, NASUWT general secretary, said: “No one should go to work expecting to be assaulted, yet all too often teachers who are attacked are told it’s all part of the job.

“There is simply no excuse for violence to go unchallenged, and teachers are put at risk by employers who fail to make clear to pupils and parents that violence will not be tolerated.

“But it’s not only the teachers who are being let down. Pupils with special needs who exhibit violent and disruptive behaviour need more help and support and, all too often, their needs are not being met.”

Meanwhile, 62 per cent of teachers said support for children with SEN had decreased in the past five years, while 83 per cent said the workload of teachers and school leaders had increased as a result of cuts to specialist services for SEN.

One teacher told the survey: “All staff are expected to be able to safe-hold, yet some LSAs [learning support assistants] are not built to physically manage the larger/stronger kids. This can lead to situations where you don’t have appropriate staff to support you in challenging situations.

“Kids that need 1:1 support or even 2:1 are just not being funded for these. I believe they are less likely to be moved to a more appropriate setting because of the money that would be taken from the school’s budget if a child leaves.”

The NASUWT’s annual conference in Birmingham was due to debate a motion on funding for pupils with SEN, calling for reforms to ensure that funds are spent appropriately to meet the needs of the pupils for whom they are intended.

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