Dear Editor
The annual survey from the EIS teaching union, highlighting the scale of violence in our schools, should come as no surprise.
Just under two-thirds of those teachers surveyed said there were daily incidents of pupil-on-teacher violence or aggression in their school, and these had significantly increased over the last four years. Many of these incidents are linked to pupils with additional support needs (ASN), with numbers more than doubling since 2012, and now amounting to more than a third of children, who are also experiencing an increasing complexity of need. These numbers have been exacerbated by the traumatic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost- of-living crisis, with us also facing a mental health emergency.
However, this is set against a background of acute under-resourcing to support their needs, with the number of specialist ASN teachers falling by 546 between 2012 and 2022 as just one example.
Additional funding is desperately needed to increase the support available to those with ASN, including specialist teachers, teaching assistants, mental health professionals and educational psychologists.
While we support the principle of mainstreaming, that all children be taught in mainstream classes unless exceptional circumstances apply, this has never been properly resourced. Those with ASN are therefore frequently being inadequately supported, which is also impacting on other pupils.
Violence against any member of school staff or another pupil is never acceptable, and it is critical that with the Scottish Budget being published next month, our schools are given the necessary resources to ensure that they are safe places in which to work and to learn.
Yours faithfully
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition:
Kenny Graham, Falkland House School
Lynn Bell, LOVE Learning
Stephen McGhee, Spark of Genius
Niall Kelly, Young Foundations
42 Charlotte Square
Edinburgh EH2 4HQ
Tel: 0131 603 8996