Shock toll of pupil attacks on staff

MORE than one in three school support staff in a Yorkshire city have been assaulted by pupils, according to a shocking new survey.

The GMB union has called for urgent talks with education chiefs at Sheffield Council after a poll suggested hundreds of attacks have been carried out by pupils in the city.

The survey also revealed that almost half of those staff who administered medicine to pupils had felt pressured into doing so by school management.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

More than 700 school support staff such as caretakers, teaching assistants and administrators responded to the GMB survey, with 36 per cent saying they had been attacked by pupils.

A GMB organiser in Sheffield, Peter Davies, said: “We are just shocked by these findings.

“The form did not contain leading questions and we did not expect to see a problem on this scale, so for 36 per cent of people who filled in the form to respond in the way that they did is just shocking.

“We have written to the council’s Cabinet member for education this week and it may be that we need to sit around the table with head teachers in Sheffield so that we can address this issue.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“There were 1,500 forms sent out and more than 700 came back, so we are not talking about a small minority of people.

“Surveys can be a useful way of teasing out issues that we might not otherwise hear about.

People might be reluctant to come forward and complain in person but feel they are able to speak openly on a survey like this.”

Mr Davies also voiced concern about the number of staff who apparently feel pressured into administering medicine.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Davies added: “This survey at best tells us that we have a problem but at worst it could well expose a reckless approach to health and safety by managers and head teachers, the implications of not training staff, and ignoring incidents when they happen has major health and safety consequences.”

The GMB education branch secretary in Sheffield, Garry Warwick, added: “Schools have been given more and more freedom over recent years with their budgets and under the present government they are to have complete independence from the guidance and support of the local authority.

“That independence should not mean that they can blatantly ignore their responsibilities in exercising a duty of care to those that they employ; this survey has thrown up some shocking results.”

The union has written to Sheffield Council outlining its concerns. The authority declined to comment yesterday.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “The majority of schools are safe and orderly places. Any violence against school staff is totally unacceptable. That is why we are empowering head teachers and teachers by stripping away bureaucracy, enabling them to tackle those issues that have inhibited them from maintaining good behaviour.”

Nationally figures show almost 900 children are suspended every school day for attacking or verbally abusing their teachers and classmates.

Statistics published by the Department for Education this summer also revealed that 13 pupils a day were permanently excluded for the same reasons.