Children in early primary school are showing more violent behaviour as a result of the impact of Covid, Scotland’s largest teaching union has said.

In evidence to MSPs today, the EIS teaching union said one primary teacher suffered a broken jaw after being kicked in the face and another lost a tooth to a punch.

The EIS also said more children now have additional support needs (ASN), while growing numbers are arriving in P1 showing signs of delayed development, such as still wearing nappies or lacking speech skills.

The Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee is examining the impact of lockdowns and coronavirus on children with ASN.

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In written evidence, the EIS said: “Also reported has been an increase in violent incidents arising from pupils’ distressed behaviour, most notably among P1 and P2 children who traditionally have been less likely to exhibit violent behaviour.

“It was recently reported to the EIS national executive committee from one local association area that over the period of a few days in that week, one early primary teacher had suffered a broken jaw and damage to the eye socket from being kicked in the face by a pupil; and another in a different school had a tooth knocked out, having been punched in the face by a child in P2.”

Laurie Black, convener of the EIS union’s ASN committee, spoke to MSPs today.

She said teachers were spending “a lot of their time firefighting really challenging, violent and distressed behaviours” and that was having an impact on the ability of other children to learn, which would have a knock-on effect on attainment.

Teachers are spending their time firefighting says Black- one local association reported a teacher with a broken jaw and damaged eye socket after being kicked in the face - at a school nearby a teacher had a tooth knocked out

These were incidents involving children in P1 and 2

- Emma Seith (@Emma_Seith) November 17, 2021

She said: “Covid has certainly exacerbated ASN needs across the board, but we were already facing quite acute needs in ASN prior to Covid where we saw that there was chronic underfunding, under-resourcing and understaffing.

“I think what we are seeing now is a change in ASN needs. A number of children are displaying quite violent or distressed behaviour, which is impacting their learning and the learning of their peers as well.”

The union’s submission to the committee said that some teachers feel behavioural support resources have diminished significantly over the last decade.

A separate submission from the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) said the number of ASN teachers in publicly funded schools had fallen by 578 over the period 2012-20, from 3,389 to 2,860 (full-time equivalents) - a drop of 529 equating to a cut of 15.6 per cent.

It said this fall had come “despite a 92.2 per cent increase over the same period in the number of pupils identified with ASN”.

The SCSC concluded: “It is vital that the Scottish government and local authorities work together to provide the necessary resourcing to address the needs of those children and young people with ASN, who represent some of the most vulnerable individuals in our society. Without taking urgent actions we risk creating a lost generation of vulnerable children and young people impacted by Covid-19.”

In its written submission, the EIS also raised concerns about mental health issues among pupils, noting that waiting lists for support are growing. It said that waiting times for assessment and diagnosis of additional support needs was “commonly in the region of six to 12 months” and added that this meant “long delays in young people receiving the tailored, evidence-informed support that they need”.

The EIS said that “to continue to dodge the issue of resources and to tinker around the edges of fixing the problem does a huge disservice to many” - including children with ASN, their peers and teachers.