1 in 5 teachers hit by a pupil

[MrsMurphyIWish]

AIBU to think it’s a low as that?

The worst encounter I have had is being pushed down the stairs when I was heavily pregnant with DS - luckily I grabbed the railing, however I was still expected to teach the boy. (He didn’t even get a detention). I teach in a different school now but swearing, general contempt (from some pupils), threats are still common. No physical violence though.

I put up with it as I’m in the money trap and waiting for mortgage to be paid off so I can escape but in’s worry if this doesn’t change we’ll have an endless cycle of ECTs who leave after a few years, continued missed recruitment targets, and behaviour will get even worse!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-68674568 - * (post edited at OP's request to add link to BBC news site)

We can’t keep using SEND as an excuse. My son is autistic - he’s never violent, he’s never even disrespectful!

I'd quit then in all honesty. Why would anyone stay in a job theu get assaulted in on a regular basis

I agree re the behaviour would shock most people. Think.people would be shocked to know that often supply staff, are unqualified and in some cases have no teaching experience.

Luckily my school as no tolerance to violence against staff- it’s an instant PEX

But often they are often in the immediate line of fire as the trickiest kids are often off loaded on to TAs to teach elsewhere heightened and struggling.

Pretty shocking if this isn’t recognised.

I worked in a PRU for a term. It was generally calmer. Children had work at an achievable level they engaged with, functional skills level. They felt better, included and focused better. Classes were smaller, so less flashpoints. They were a bit out of area, so away from gangs and other troubles that were triggers. Less students to clash in outside play.
Basically if you are in an environment to meet needs better and creates less sensory overload it’s easier funnily enough. A major factor is children not accessing the curriculum in mainstream, and lashing out for various reasons, outside pressures such as family issues and the general noise and intensity triggering them

This.

Or kicked, spat at, bitten. I have visible scars from one girl's bad day.

Mostly, scar time included (that happened in front of the head), I don't even get an apology.

It’s the levels of SEN that are in mainstream now. Many many children that would have been in SEN schools previously are now “integrated” in mainstream schools.

whereas previously you’d have 4/5 children with SEN in a mainstream school you now have that per class.

Also the options used previously aren’t acceptable anymore. My brother spent most of his schooling on a chair in a corridor. That just doesn’t happen anymore, and nor should it, but that means the disruptions in the classroom are more frequent and more serious as there’s nowhere to remove children to.

As well as including all school staff in the data, I wonder what the figure would be for being assaulted by a parent or guardian?

@EyeOfTheCat

We run detentions daily and I would say 80% of the kids in there each day are send. I’ve raised it millions of times…

Yes me! And it's awful...very little support in all honesty. I'm in primary and those '1 in 5' figures are much higher in our school...but nothing is ever reported anywhere outside of school as we are told to basically 'suck it up' and 'think of the children' and 'it's not their fault it's their ACES'. Which is true in some cases but doesn't help or make it better for us when a child is beating the shit out of us with a chair, or sinking their teeth into us, or stabbing us with scissors (which happened to my colleague only yesterday!)

Behaviour in some (many/all 🤷‍♀️) schools now is shocking...absolutely bloody shocking!! I'm in my 30th year of teaching and I am done!

Parents should be seriously worried about their children...and yes, their parenting - because something has gone horribly wrong over the last 10-15 years! I have genuinely NEVER experienced anything like this in my entire career!

If I was to CPOMS all that happens in my classroom as it happens I wouldn’t be able to teach. I seriously worry about the progress when even just one child gets out of control. Waiting for a team to come and talk to them often takes a while and when they’ve sat next to them in class for a while they wonder what the issue is. Lack of support!
At parents evenings, the overarching trend seems to be “not my child- they must be being bullied, not the other way round.”
More families work against the school rather than with them.

I'm a 1:1 TA for a child with special needs, working in an outstanding primary school. I've been hit, kicked, had things thrown at me and spat at. When I first worked with him it was almost daily but has got a lot less frequent now thankfully.

That's what any reasonable person would expect, but - at least round my way - it seldom happens.

The only advice that I ever got from my union was to take a day off with stress, because otherwise the assault wouldn't show up in the LA stats.

I've never been hit by a child but have come too close to flying objects and swinging sticks. The poor tas and especially 1:1s though, it's too regular. No-one should have to accept these conditions, especially for such poor pay. We struggle to recruit for any position now.

I also think this is a problem that’s going to get massively worse because of the number of teachers leaving the profession, which means in years to come there will be a shortage of HTs who have real long term experience teaching.

The quality of a HT, and their experience, is often the main factor in how good a school is overall.

Also a SEN parent and there is some truth to what you say - but there are also a good number of children who just aren’t suited to the environment of mainstream and can’t cope - and hence act out. I think this is especially true in primary. Children have to totally fail before they are considered for specialist schools and even then only if there’s space. I have an older child in specialist school (he started there).

As I’m typing I’m thinking of my DS4’s friend who is a sweet boy (I have him round my house and he is a delight) but in a busy classroom with no escape he does act out - he gets totally overwhelmed. He has been suspended (he’s in reception) which has done nothing as he hasn’t acted in anger but overwhelm. His Mum works in SEN schools and has for many years - so she cannot be accused of not parenting, he is a prime example of what I’m thinking about.

Another child in my DS’ class has needs too great, I believe, for mainstream. Yet there he is. I went to a stay and play recently and he just wasn’t engaged in any activity and was sat at a table eating playdoh. My son says he bites other chidlren and hits them. I see him struggling with PU and DO.

Neither child will thrive in a class of 40 children. It’s too much.

@Didimum

Our SLT are good and are really present around school the whole day. When you do a duty call to the classroom one usually appears pretty fast to help. It helps that my HOD is very supportive and will happily kick up a fuss if he thinks we aren’t being looked after!

It’s not an excuse - it’s a contributing factor.

Many children with SEND ARE violent and it’s not automatically their parents fault. Your post is insulting to those parents.

So another 'stop talking about this and we'll pretend it doesn't happen, and if it does its the teachers fault'?

Any child assaulting a member of staff, even accidentally (a colleague once broke up a fight and was punched by one of the kids by accident), is always followed up with a severe sanction, usually exclusion for at least a day also not from this quoted post, but I can't believe a severe sanction for physical assault staff or pupil is a day!!
That child wanted to punch somebody!

Thank you.

I was hit, punched, slapped, kicked and then child tried to stab me with scissors. I wasn’t allowed to say I wouldn’t teach the child. There is so so much violence in schools. I’m not sure where we will be 5 years from now.

@MrsMurphyIWish

send doesn’t ‘excuse it’ but you have to admit in many cases it is a contributing factor. All autistic kids aren’t the same so yours may be able to mask their meltdowns but others can’t.

Interesting bbc article and programme on the effectiveness is schools taking a compassionate approach - this isn’t about schools being soft, it’s about them understanding and working with individual reasons behind behaviours. All behaviour is communication as the SaLT team say.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm5x8r48d5ko.amp

In addition there are high numbers of children leaving mainstream education or becoming school refusers due to SEN or mental health issues or other unmet needs. I believe the school system needs a shake up so that the curriculum is better balanced for the broad range of pupils it educates. There are too many children who seem like a round peg in a square hole, highlighting that provisions need to change.

I say all this as someone who has experienced violence regularly in a complex educational setting.

Because when you were a child the children who needed specialist provision likely HAD specialist provision. Class sizes were smaller - now children who need specialist provision are put in mainstream first, if they ever get out at all. They can’t cope.