Teachers are being punched, kicked, shoved or spat at by pupils say NASUWT

More than four in five (81%) teachers across the UK feel the number of pupils exhibiting violent and abusive behaviours has increased, according to a poll by the NASUWT teaching union.

The findings were released on the first day of the union’s annual conference in Liverpool,

Delegates at the NASUWT conference debated a motion on Friday which suggests that reports of “extreme pupil indiscipline” – including incidents involving knives and other weapons – are on the rise.

The motion calls on the union’s executive to work with the Government to ensure teachers have the “unequivocal support” of ministers in taking action to secure “positive learner behaviour”.

It adds that the guidance on behaviour management should be strengthened to ensure “no exclusion” policies are “not legitimised” across the sector, and mandatory time is introduced for teachers to access national continuing professional development (CPD) on behaviour management strategies.

The survey, of more than 5,800 NASUWT members in the UK in January, suggests two in five (40%) have experienced physical abuse or violence from pupils in the last 12 months.

A fifth (20%) of respondents said they had experienced being hit or punched by pupils in the last year, while 38% said they had been shoved or barged.

Around one in six (16%) said they had been kicked by pupils, while 9% said they had been spat at, according to the NASUWT poll.

One teacher who responded to the survey said: “I have had two children use a fire hydrant as a weapon. One at my head, another to my foot.”

Another said: “This morning I was told to, ‘go die, I hope you die.’”

Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “Pupil behaviour has long been an issue for teachers, but recent years have seen an unprecedented surge in levels of violence and abuse in the classroom.

“Based on our latest data, we estimate as many as 30,000 violent incidents against teachers involving pupils with a weapon in the last 12 months.

“Many teachers are having to think about how they can survive in the classroom before they can begin to focus on their teaching and pupils’ learning.

“We are calling for the establishment of a national inter-agency forum on school safety and security that is led and chaired by ministers.

“We are also calling on the Government to invest in properly funded services to identify and tackle the root causes of pupil violence and aggression.”

At the National Education Union’s (NEU) conference in Harrogate on Wednesday, a motion on violence – which warned of “a crisis” in schools where some pupils behave in ways which are “dangerous” to staff – was passed.

But the motion – which noted “increasing levels of violence” in schools – called on the NEU executive to campaign to ensure pupils involved in challenging behaviour were “not excluded” from the education system.