“It’s only a matter of time before there's a really serious incident”

Wednesday 26 February 2020

It’s only a matter of time before a teacher suffers a “really serious incident”, the former head of a major education union has warned, after Express uncovered that there were nearly 50 attacks on staff by students last year.

The figures came in response to a Freedom of Information request by Express, showing that there were 27 physical assaults on secondary school staff by students, and 18 in primary schools last year - a marked rise from five years earlier, when there were fewer than 20 recorded.

However, Brendan Carolan, the media spokesperson and ex-head of the Jersey branch of the National Education Union said he feared there were likely “more than 80…or even double that”, given that 8% of teachers had reported a physical attack by a pupil in the past year in the most recent Teachers’ Survey.

“There is definitely under-reporting, and that could be for a few reasons. For a head or manager, it doesn’t reflect well on the school reputation,” he said. “Instead of seeing the bigger picture and asking for help, some might not admit the extent of their problem.”

Questioning the “quality” and judgment of managers that may not have logged all incidents, he warned that, by failing do so, the Education Department would not be able to intervene and support struggling institutions appropriately.

Pictured: The number of assaults, provided by the government following investigation by Express. 

As well as increasing “pressure” being piled on students leading to behavioural outbursts, he added that inconsistency in supporting teachers in different schools and in implementing behaviour management plans may have contributed to the number of assaults.

When a child is excluded for such an assault, Mr Carolan explained that they should be helped by specialist or pastoral staff back into the school routine, and assessed to see if they have had adequate time to “cool down”.

But he said that he was aware of at least one incident of a student “kicking off” when teachers had been left to deal with such a student alone because the staff in charge of pastoral relations were unavailable.

Mr Carolan also explained that the government’s latest drive to “put children first” may also have adverse effects for teachers, who may not feel they are able to exercise discipline within their classes or speak out when a student misbehaves.

“If teachers have no authority and no control, and are not backed by senior members of staff… [bad behaviour] becomes impossible to deal with in an effective way.”

He added that this becomes particularly hard when dealing with “several volatile individuals” in a single class, noting that this could have a detrimental impact on the whole class: “[Teachers] can’t focus on educating when they’re constantly firefighting.”

Mr Carolan added that many teachers report verbal abuse on a near daily basis, fuelling fears that such behaviour could escalate.

He added that if students are not adequately disciplined, and teachers not supported in dealing with bad behaviour, that there could be wider repercussions for the island community as a whole.

“If kids don’t think it’s a problem, we will end up with a society where there is no respect for law and order. It starts in schools. If we do not clamp down at the highest level, then this will escalate in 10 years onto assaults on… authorities and members of the public.”

Jersey’s other major teaching union, NASUWT, also condemned the figures.

“No teacher or other worker should go to work with an expectation that they should tolerate violence and abuse,” Ms Chris Keates, Acting General Secretary, said.

She went on to echo Mr Carolan’s concerns about inadequate measures being in place for dealing with students exhibiting bad behaviour. 

Ms Keates explained: “Where a pupil is known to exhibit violent and disruptive behaviour, a risk assessment should be undertaken and action taken to support the pupil to address their behaviour and to protect other pupils and staff. Similar measures should be followed if there are concerns about the behaviour of parents or carers.

“In too many cases no effective assessment is ever undertaken. Even if it is, all too often this is not always shared with all staff or is not passed on to receiving schools if the pupil is moved.

“Employers who fail to disclose safety information leave themselves vulnerable to legal challenge and industrial action, but more importantly they are behaving recklessly with the health and wellbeing of staff and other pupils and this simply cannot be justified.”

The Education Department attributed the recorded rise in assaults as being down to better reporting by teachers.

A spokesperson said that there were clear measures in place for protecting staff from violent behaviour, which are detailed in a handbook, and that all recorded incidents of students assaulting a member of staff resulted in exclusions.

They declined to provide a breakdown of the assaults by school.

The news comes as new figures show that 76 members of education staff were signed off with stress-related illnesses in 2019, around the same level as the previous year when it was 75.