Perth and Kinross Council paper reveals primary school staff more at risk of assault than secondary

dailyrecord.co.uk:

There has been a rise in the number of reports from Perth and Kinross school staff who have managed challenging incidents with pupils.Primary school staff are more likely than staff in secondaries to encounter physical assaults.The increase was reported in Perth and Kinross Council's Education Service Improvement Plan 2023/24 which went before the Learning and Families Committee last week.While a rise has been recorded, Perth and Kinross Council has not published the actual number of incidents reported.At the meeting on Wednesday, August 23 Perth City North councillor Brian Leishman called for action from the Scottish Government to protect both staff and pupils.He told the committee: "It’s not an exaggeration to say that - for many teachers - educating takes a back seat because they spend so much of their time being distracted by behavioural issues in the classroom."On May 24 the cabinet secretary announced there would be an emergency summit on school violence.

This was welcomed by teaching unions."Yet the first scheduled meeting is due to take place on September 5 – three and a half months later."I completely understand teachers feeling let down and deflated.

If I didn’t feel safe in my workplace and had to keep going back and change didn’t seem a priority then I’d dread going to my work too."He later described the delay for the emergency summit as "totally unacceptable" and told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "Teachers shouldn’t dread going into school or fear being met with abusive behaviour.

The SSTA [Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association] has called it an 'aggression epidemic' in schools and it’s no wonder teachers are frustrated at Scottish Government dithering.