NASUWT teaching union has highlighted the high levels of verbal and physical abuse teachers are facing on a daily basis at their annual conference, yet say the serious abuse is going largely unchallenged by schools. 

According to the teacher’s union, more than 6% of teachers they surveyed said they had been subjected to physical violence by pupils in the past year, 10% had received threats of physical violence from students and while 38% had been subjected to verbal abuse from those they teach.

Despite these large figures, only 42% of teachers felt the school had dealt with the incident in a satisfactory manner, with the majority of cases going unchallenged. 

NASUWT general secretary Patrick Roach said: “Improved training for school leaders and a whole-school approach to promoting positive behaviour, coupled with a consistent and robust approach to dealing with incidents of verbal and physical abuse against staff, should be embedded in every school.

Schools have a duty of care to their staff, and it is about time that all schools took that responsibility seriously.

The statistics are taken from the NASUWT’s Big Question Survey of members across the UK, which received 4,739 responses between 21 February and 29 March.

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