One in seven secondary school teachers experiences violence from a student at least once a month, according to “tragic” new polling seen exclusively by Tes.
And 5 per cent experience this at least once a week, according to the YouGov data, which has fuelled calls for more funding and training for schools.
In the survey, conducted in April, almost half of the teachers in secondaries who responded (47 per cent) said they experienced “aggressive” behaviour from students at least once a month, and 69 per cent at least once a year.
And more than a third (38 per cent) of the respondents to the weighted survey of more than 400 secondary teachers said that they experienced aggressive behaviour from a student’s family at least yearly.
The data does not appear to show huge differences between teachers and senior leaders, with 15 per cent of both groups saying they experience violence from students at least monthly.
Behaviour: Teachers suffering student violence
Julie McCulloch, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said it was “worrying” to hear of any incidents of violence or aggression against teachers, “let alone the high numbers indicated in this survey”.
She added: “The vast majority of pupils, of course, behave perfectly well, and we are talking about a relatively small proportion of pupils who do not do so. Often such behaviour will be a sign of complex issues affecting that child.”
Schools and trusts monitor such incidents “very carefully”, she said, taking appropriate disciplinary action and providing support to staff and pupils as necessary.
“Unfortunately, they have to do so in very tough financial circumstances, and it would help a great deal if there was more funding available from the government for pastoral and specialist support,” Ms McCulloch added.
But Tom Bennett, the Department for Education behaviour tsar, who leads on the government’s Behaviour Hubs programme, suggested such behaviour had become normalised in some schools.
He said that the “tragic” data showed what many teachers would already know, but “many would prefer to ignore”.
“For too many, the reality of the job involves completely unacceptable levels of abusive language and conduct. No teacher should have to face this, and no child should have to be in a classroom where this occurs,” he said.
Mr Bennett added that educators needed to “stop accepting this as normal”, and that school leaders needed to “get serious about prioritising the safety and dignity of all staff and all students”.
“Too many teachers and leaders still enter the profession with very little high-quality training in this area, and that’s unacceptable in the 21st century,” he said.
He said he hoped the situation would improve with initiatives like the Behaviour Hubs, the Early Career Framework and the Institute of Teaching.
The Behaviour Hubs programme, which pairs schools and multi-academy trusts that have “exemplary” behaviour practices - called lead schools - with partner schools that want to improve behaviour, was launched last year.
Stuart Lock, chief executive officer of academy trust Advantage Schools, which includes Bedford Free School - one of the DfE’s Behaviour Hub lead schools - said schools should outline actions that leaders could take to limit violence.
He recommended measures such as a “positive culture of respect via overcommunication”, clear expectations, strong routines and an escalating series of sanctions that include suspension or exclusion for the most significant incidents.
Leaders should be “highly visible”, he added, and “take responsibility, if possible well before any incident occurs”.
“Addressing what is named by some as ‘low-level’ misbehaviour can stop the more significant things from occurring,” he added.
This is not always happening on the ground, according to Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union.
Members have often told the union there was a “culture” in their workplace of “blaming the teacher when violence or poor behaviour occurs, rather than holding pupils accountable”, he said.
He added: “No teacher should go to work with the expectation that they will be either verbally or physically abused. All teachers are entitled to dignity at work and a safe working environment.
“A failure to deal with poor behaviour fails teachers, but also pupils, as they are not learning to take responsibility for their actions or understand the importance of self-control and respect for others.”
The survey results come after the government laid out its blueprint for behaviour in schools in new guidance earlier this year.
This provided updated guidance on exclusions and sanctions, saying that removal of a student from the classroom “should be considered a serious sanction and only used when necessary”, and that headteachers “can use suspension and permanent exclusion in response to serious incidents”.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Every school should be a calm and respectful environment, where all pupils and staff feel safe, supported and able to reach their potential.
“Our ongoing £10 million Behaviour Hubs programme aims to support up to 700 schools between 2021 and 2024 in improving their behaviour by partnering them with selected exemplary lead schools and MATs. We have also committed to a review of our behaviour and discipline guidance and are currently reviewing responses to a consultation from earlier this year.”
