Union say Falkirk school assaults 'almost accepted' and more needs to be done

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A teachers' union says schools staff in Falkirk believe assault is "almost accepted in schools" and much more needs to be done to combat the problem.

The EIS says some teachers are being sent back into the classroom minutes after enduring assaults and one member was even disciplined for shouting at a pupil after being assaulted.

Last week, a Freedom of Information request by Falkirk Conservatives revealed a shocking 1000 per cent rise in assaults - physical and verbal - on school staff, since 2018.Read more: Falkirk free school bus travel cuts could be in place by AugustFalkirk Council said the rise was due to a new way of reporting assaults.The local EIS, which is the biggest teachers' union in Scotland, agrees that the new recording system has made it much easier to report incidents but says the figures are now giving a more accurate picture of the scale of abuse staff are enduring.Commenting on the FOI figures, Colin Finlay said: "It's difficult to say whether assaults are happening more.

Our view is that assaults have always happened in schools - they've just gone unreported."But I think there is a real issue in schools at the moment and this year it is mainstream pupils that are acting up."Whether that's due to issues from lockdown, I don't know, but we have been asking for more to be done to protect teachers and other school staff as well."The FOI revealed that on average five assaults are happening in Falkirk schools every day.