Teachers are being kicked, punched, cornered in their classrooms and threatened, union members have said.
Delegates at the National Education Union (NEU) conference in Brighton voted today for a motion calling for a national campaign to reduce violence in schools.
As part of the debate on the motion, teachers shared stories of colleagues being assaulted and abused in their schools.
Laura Ann Watford, also from Portsmouth, told delegates one of her teacher friends was left ‘traumatised’ following an incident where she was ‘was beaten to the ground by a student and kicked 14 times while she was on the floor’.
It comes amid a debate over discipline , after Labour issued new guidance saying out-of-school suspensions, where children are sent home, should only be used as a last resort.
Charlotte Lawrence from Portsmouth, who proposed the motion, said this year she had spent ‘more time managing the dangerous behaviour of a small number of pupils in my class than delivering the high-quality education that the whole class deserves’.
She said: ‘Staff are being grabbed, kicked, punched, spat at, cornered in classrooms, subjected to threats and left managing corridors that feel more like crowd control than education, and pupils are suffering too.’
‘Children are being assaulted by peers, witnessing frightening incidents and trying to learn in environments where emotional dysregulation becomes the norm because there aren’t enough staff or resources to intervene early or safely.’
Pupils should not be blamed for the increase in violent behaviour, she added, saying the rise is often due to their needs not being met, mental health challenges and unrecognised trauma.
Seconding the motion, Susan Kent said one of her members was ‘left with bruises and bites’ due to a pupil exhibiting violent behaviour in her class.
The motion, which was supported by delegates voting at the conference on Wednesday, called for a comprehensive survey of members’ experience of violence in schools, promoting practices that support pupil wellbeing while managing behaviour.
It also called for the union to lobby for a national framework for school safety, training for members on de-escalation, and the establishment of a violence in schools task force to support affected members and make policy recommendations.
Amy-Jane Clarke from Norfolk said 60 per cent of her female members have said they have wanted to leave working in education due to experiencing violence and misogyny.
‘The majority of respondents were support staff,’ she said.
‘Some had been injured with objects being thrown at them, being spat at, scratched and kicked. Many had experienced misogynistic comments.’
It comes after an NEU survey of 10,715 members found two in three teachers said bad behaviour by pupils regularly disrupts learning in lessons at school.
The survey found teachers were far more likely to report behaviour regularly disrupting learning than they were before the pandemic.
Levels remain similar to 2024, when 67 per cent of the NEU members surveyed said behaviour was having a negative impact on learning either regularly or all the time.
NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: ‘Schools are running on empty and don’t have enough staffing and pastoral support. Access to Send and mental health specialists is a real challenge and this makes it harder for schools to intervene early.
‘Teachers don’t want to see students missing out on education but without the right support and a curriculum that has flexibility and scope for adaptation, too many students can’t cope with expectations.’
The survey of teacher members of the NEU found teachers from primary schools and special schools were more likely to report that learning was being impacted by behaviour at least regularly.
Female teachers, teachers working in schools in higher deprivation areas and younger teachers were also more likely to report behaviour disrupting lessons.
When asked about the causes of difficult behaviour, many teachers cited things like a lack of staff in their schools, the impact of social media use or special educational needs not being met.
Teaching union NASUWT found in a survey last year that more than four in five teachers felt the number of pupils exhibiting violent and abusive behaviour had increased, with two in five saying they had experienced physical abuse or violence.
NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack said staff facing physical injury in schools is ‘alarming’.
The motion at the NEU conference calls for the union to conduct a similar survey of members on the scale of behavioural issues to NASUWT.
Research by the Department for Education has found teachers and leaders think pupil behaviour at their school has gotten considerably worse since 2021/22.
Analysis from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has also found teachers who say behaviour is worse in their school are more likely to leave teaching, as well as more likely to consider leaving.
The Government has created 93 hubs aiming to support around 3,000 schools across the country with improving attendance and behaviour.
