A “zero tolerance” approach to violence in schools has been promised by Scottish Labour if the party is elected to government in 2026.
Behaviour has been a big education talking point at the Scottish Parliament in the past year, and in May 2023, education secretary Jenny Gilruth announced a “summit” on violence in schools that has led to a number of events.
Then, in November, “a general worsening of pupil behaviour” in Scotland since 2016 was identified by the fifth edition of the Behaviour in Scottish schools: research report 2023.
Now, Labour education spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy has criticised education secretary Jenny Gilruth for “inaction” on tackling violence by pupils towards peers and teachers.
In her speech at the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow yesterday, Ms Duncan-Glancy said: “The SNP’s distraction and inaction has led to our classrooms becoming more like pressure cookers, on the edge of boiling point, than the nurturing and safe learning environments that they should be.
“The result? Rising violence and poor behaviour in schools.”
Ms Duncan-Glancy said that the education secretary’s “only answers are to come up with a five-point plan, where point one was a promise to come up with a plan and to further insult our excellent teachers by suggesting the solution is to teach them how to teach, by setting up a centre for teachers”.
‘Safe and fun’ schools
On the promise of “a zero-tolerance approach” towards violence in schools, Ms Duncan-Glancy said: “Pupils need to know that we want them to be safe and succeed.
“So we’ll encourage teachers to tell them that, empower them to set the rules of engagement in their classrooms and explain expectations of how they’ll all work together to make school safe and fun, and most importantly, places where nothing distracts from the opportunity to learn.”
She added that, when this does not happen, “teachers will be equipped and backed up with national guidance on consequences and escalation”; teachers should also be able to report incidents “in the confidence that where necessary they will be escalated and problems resolved”.
Inconsistencies in how misbehaviour is reported in Scottish schools have been highlighted in the past. In March 2023, then chief inspector Gayle Gorman addressed findings in an Education Scotland report, which found that systematic approaches for recording and monitoring bullying “were not yet consistent across all schools”.
Violence and abuse ‘completely unacceptable’
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Scotland’s schools should be safe learning environments for all - violence and abusive behaviour towards pupils or staff is completely unacceptable.
“We know many countries have seen that the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have had a significant effect on children, young people and their families and the relationships with schools, which has been echoed in our own research.
“We have taken a range of actions, including commissioning the national research on behaviour in Scottish schools, the establishment of the ‘headteachers’ task force’, and a series of behaviour summits, which were undertaken last year to better understand these issues.”
The government spokesperson added: “While government can set out national parameters, arrangements for reporting are ultimately a matter for local authorities as the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education rests with them.
“That is why the government is working with councils to bring forward a joint national action plan to set out the range of actions needed at both local and national level.”
Key education issues and various pressures on teachers were also covered at the Scottish Labour conference on Saturday. The NASUWT Scotland teaching union told a fringe meeting that it seemed more was being done to reduce teacher workload in England than in Scotland.
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