Teachers are locked in a mental health crisis amid a rising tide of violence in Scotland’s schools.
Shocking figures show that staff in primary and secondary schools have taken 400,000 days off in the past three years as they battle with stress and anxiety.
Last year, one primary school teacher was off for 148 days while a secondary school teacher only made it into work for 15 and a half weeks.
Earlier this month, The Scottish Mail on Sunday revealed that a teacher is assaulted by a pupil every four minutes.
Earlier this month, The Scottish Mail on Sunday revealed that a teacher is assaulted by a pupil every four minutes.
Teachers in Scotland are suffering a rising tide of abuse and violence in classrooms
There were more than 16,000 attacks in the academic year just ended – a trebling of assaults in three years.
Whistleblowers say the explosion of violence is pushing some probationer teachers to quit – while longer-serving teachers bemoan the lack of discipline in the face of senior leadership teams seemingly determined to play down threats of violence.
Whistleblowers say the explosion of violence is pushing some probationer teachers to quit – while longer-serving teachers bemoan the lack of discipline in the face of senior leadership teams seemingly determined to play down threats of violence. Latest analysis shows that the total staff absence since 2021 represents around 2,000 years of teaching days lost.
Critics say the crisis has spiralled due to the SNP’s soft touch approach to school discipline.
Conservative MSP Maurice Golden said: ‘It’s no wonder teachers are finding it difficult to keep going. If our teachers are properly looked after and given the right resources to tackle disobedience and disorder, things would begin to improve.’
The SNP’s ‘restorative practice’ policy favours conciliatory discussions with aggressive pupils rather than punishment, an approach supported by Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth.
A Scottish Government report last year on behaviour in schools said the ‘evidence’ showed ‘a culture shift towards a focus on relationships, restorative practice and nurture approaches, and away from punitive approaches’.
Glasgow-born education expert Tom Bennett – who has written several books on school behaviour and taught for 13 years in London’s tough East End – has said ‘inclusion at all costs’ and a rejection of conventional discipline has become a ‘disaster’.
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth supports the SNP’s ‘restorative practice’ policy
There were 16,245 ‘recorded assaults’ on teachers in 2023-24 – around 85 per school day, or one every four minutes of class time.
Three-quarters of the attacks, more than 12,000, were in primary schools, with 3,400 in secondaries. Hundreds more were in Additional Support Needs locations.
The overall figure has trebled since 2021 when there were around 5,600 attacks.
Statistics from 31 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities show that secondary school teachers took 174,471 days of absence owing to mental ill health, including for stress and anxiety, in 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24.
Over the same period, 225,476 days of primary teaching were lost. Across the board, 399,947 days were lost to mental stress.
Darren Wapplington of the NASUWT Scotland teaching union said: ‘93 per cent of teachers surveyed in Scotland tell us that the number of pupils exhibiting violent and abusive behaviours has increased. Three-quarters said it was making the job more stressful, and a fifth said they were suffering with depression.
‘This can’t continue. Nobody becomes a teacher so that they can be punched, kicked, intimidated or verbally abused. Not only do teachers suffer but they spend extra time supporting and protecting other pupils. This is time that everyone is losing from lessons.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said violence and abuse ‘is always completely unacceptable’, adding: ‘We are taking a range of actions to address this issue and ensure staff have access to the support they need.’