Wrexham,North Wales - Concern over number of physical assaults recorded against teachers in Wrexham and Flintshire

Published date: 31 January 2017 | 

Published by: Owen Evans 
Read more articles by Owen Evans 

Hundreds of assaults have been recorded against teachers in the last three years.

Shock figures uncovered by teachers’ union NUT Cymru showed that a total of 485 assaults had been recorded against teachers in Flintshire in the last three full academic years.

In Wrexham, a total of 554 assaults were recorded – however 419 were verbal, with 135 described as physical.

Flintshire Council did not distinguish between verbal and physical attacks.

The figures, uncovered using Freedom of Information laws, showed that an average of eight assaults per day were being carried out on teachers in Wales.

NUT Wales Secretary David Evans said: “Clearly, any incidents of physical or verbal assault by pupils towards teachers or any members of the school staff are unacceptable.

“To see an average of around 1,500 incidents a year is a great concern.

“The details of the FOI do not cover the severity of these assaults, but of course we can only assume that they were notable enough to warrant school staff to feel the need to report them.

“That is alarming and does need to be given consideration by schools, local authorities and the Welsh Government.”

Mr Evans added: “No teacher should feel unsafe or threatened within their working environment.

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“That impacts on the individual teachers and of course their ability to deliver high quality education to the rest of the class.

“A disruption in class, or in the school, due to physical or verbal assault by a pupil is not conducive to a positive education environment.

“What these figures also show is that how different local authorities report these incidents varies widely.

“Some of the numbers are noticeably different when they shouldn’t be and so it does beg the question why there isn’t a more standard approach to monitoring which would help in terms of putting in place policies and training to reduce the impact it may have.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Any form of violence or abuse against staff in our schools is unacceptable.

“We want our schools to be safe, welcoming environments where teachers can get on with their jobs, helping pupils achieve the best they can. Schools are required in law to have a written behaviour policy which should set explicit standards of behaviour.

“The policy should be developed and put into effect by everyone in the school.”

Ian Budd, Flintshire Council’s chief officer education and youth said: “It is important that schools are safe environments for learners and employees and that everyone connected with schools does what they can to promote this.

“We encourage teachers to report incidents and it is important that they are followed through supportively with and by colleagues.

“The vast majority of incidents, physical or verbal, are relatively minor and in most instances involve pupils with behavioural difficulties for whom individualised support mechanisms and risk assessments are in place.”

http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/171892/concern-over-number-of-physical-assaults-recorded-against-teachers-in-wrexham-and-flintshire.aspx