The Scottish government is failing to get control of what NASUWT Scotland has described as an “escalating crisis in violence and abuse from pupils in schools”, members of the teaching union will argue today.
Delegates will hear that in nearly a year since a national “behaviour summit” was announced by education secretary Jenny Gilruth - initially billed as a “summit on violence” - the series of events held since then have led to “a small number of completely inadequate proposals...which completely fail to grasp the scale of the problem”.
In the Scottish Parliament yesterday, Ms Gilruth confirmed that a long-awaited and more detailed behaviour plan would be published in the coming weeks.
Call for ‘consistent consequences’ across Scotland
Members at today’s NASUWT Scotland annual conference, which is being held virtually, will “condemn the failure of ministers to publish and implement nationally recognised clear behaviour guidelines for all schools”.
They will call for a system of nationally agreed strategies to be put in place for dangerous and disruptive behaviour, including a “consistent set of consequences for pupils”.
NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “In the absence of the robust provisions needed from government, we will continue to take all steps in schools to ensure our members are protected from violence and abuse.
“But teachers should also be able to rely on their elected government to back them in safely undertaking the vital work they do every day with our children and young people.”
Dr Roach added: “Despite the cabinet secretary professing to be deeply concerned about pupil behaviour in schools, all that she has done is announce a set of half-baked proposals that do not go anywhere near far enough to deal with the realities that teachers are experiencing day-in-day-out in their classrooms.”
In November, national data published by the Scottish government showed an increase in low-level and more serious disruptive behaviours in schools, including physical violence and aggression.
The next day, Ms Gilruth announced a five-point plan to tackle worsening behaviour in Scottish schools - including the future publication of a more detailed plan.
‘Immediate action’ needed amid ‘upsurge in violence’
Mike Corbett, NASUWT Scotland’s national official, said: “While it is clear much more needs to be done to tackle the root causes of the upsurge in violence, abuse and poor behaviour, immediate action can and should be taken to address its effects in our schools.
“In the past fortnight, there have been two serious weapon attacks by pupils on staff and fellow pupils on school premises in the UK.
“Teachers are not being hyperbolic when they say they fear for their safety and feel the Scottish government is currently not doing all it could to protect them.”
Mr Corbett added: “The cabinet secretary cannot claim to be in any doubt about what is needed to help address this problem.
“She needs to show real leadership by putting in place national guidelines that make it clear to schools what is expected of them and which uphold teachers’ right to work in safety.”
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The NASUWT are part of the national group tasked with producing a behaviour action plan - which shows clear partnership working between Scottish government and the teaching professional associations. As members of this group, the NASUWT helped to write the action plan, which will publish in the coming weeks.
“Changes in behaviour in Scotland’s schools since the pandemic are well understood - this is why the cabinet secretary [Jenny Gilruth] committed to holding a series of summits focused on behaviour, convened the headteacher’s taskforce and published the Behaviour in Scotland’s Schools research last November - culminating in the commitment to this action plan.”
The spokesperson added: “The cabinet secretary regularly meets with Mr Corbett on a range of issues, including workload and reducing class contact most recently. Ms Gilruth extends her warm welcome to Dr Roach to meet on any of these issues.”
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