I wanted to be a PE teacher through school. But alas. I chose the sports coaching degree instead.
Teaching during my degree gave me a taste.
However, after looking into the assault and abuse stats on teachers.
I am glad I chose a different career path.
Although I got my fair share of abuse coaching football, and especially refereeing football, it is nothing compared to the physical and verbal abuse I have seen teachers reporting recently.
Students hitting teachers, punching teachers, traumatising teachers and even throwing chairs at teachers.
There is a behaviour problem in schools. And it is getting worse.
Numbers on assault and abuse in school
I shared this poll when I discussed journalism about exclusions in school.
As this was on social media I was sceptical, but still shocked at how high that number was.
48% of 4439 is 2131. Lots of people.
A few days later I saw these results from the Teachertapp app.
An app where teachers answer 3 questions each day about teaching.
Very close to ‘official’ data. Certainly more reliable than a Twitter poll.
This poll has more than double the responses and is likely a higher percentage of active teachers.
23% have been physically hurt by a student. This year.
A recent BBC article reports states:
I assume that is referring to the Teacher Tapp survey results.
Unfortunately, journalists aren’t as transparent as I would like so I can’t know for sure.
But 2354 (10235 x 23% = 2354.05) teachers physically hurt this year is too high!
Bear in mind this is likely an ‘academic year’ so from September, but I am not sure.
Either way, that is still a lot.
But this is just physical assault.
What about verbal abuse?
This is when I went to the UK Government website to have a look at suspension and exclusion data – again – but this time focusing on the reasons.
Note: Before 2020/21, a single reason could be recorded for each permanent exclusion and suspension. From 2020/21, up to three reasons could be recorded.
I have calculated the difference from 2020/21 Autumn term to 2022/23 Autumn term.
If we have a look at the suspension data we see an increasing trend.
A second lockdown happened in Spring of 2020/21.
Physical assaults were up 7412 on pupils, and 7685 on adults.
That’s about a 22% (7412/34020 x 100 = 21.7) increase in pupils and a 74% (7685/10448 x 100 = 73.5) increase in adults.
If we look at the verbal abuse numbers.
Verbal abuse and threats were up by 4000 for pupils, and 17634 for adults.
That’s about a 43% (4000/9371 x 100 = 42.6) increase in pupils and a 56% (7634/31262 x 100 = 56.4) increase in adults.
If we look at the exclusion data we see a similar trend.
Physical assaults were up 314 on pupils, and 306 in adults.
That’s about a 77% (314/406 x 100 = 77.3) increase in pupils and a 135% (306/226 x 100 = 135.3) increase in adults.
If we look at the verbal abuse numbers.
Verbal abuse and threats were up by 167 for pupils, but 324 for adults.
That’s about an 186% (167/90 x 100 = 185.5) increase in pupils and a 136% (324/239 x 100 = 135.5) increase in adults.
So in two years, from 2020/21 to 2022/23:
- Suspensions
- Pupil assaults up by 22%
- Adult assaults up by 74%
- Pupil verbal abuse up by 43%
- Adult verbal abuse up by 56%
- Exclusions
- Pupil assaults up by 77%
- Adult assaults up by 135%
- Pupil verbal abuse up by 186%
- Adult verbal abuse up by 136%
But keep in mind, the difference numbers are for the first terms in an academic year.
I just hope this trend didn't/doesn't continue.
This is the reality of teaching
I have seen some people saying teachers should ‘grow up’ when it comes to verbal abuse.
To an extent I agree, however…
Most adults don’t go to work expecting to be sworn at, insulted or shouted at.
Nor do they worry each day if someone is going to hit them, throw a chair at them or have things flung at them from across a room.
That seems to be a unique ‘perk’ of being a school teacher.
Bring back the cane, bring back physical punishment some argue.
No.
That is just not a good idea for lots of reasons.
But punishment or behaviour management is certainly at the centre of this issue.
When I first saw the increase in incidents I started thinking about situations when I was at school. About a decade ago now.
A local math teacher and student went to France without telling the student’s parents.
It triggered an international hunt for them.
Male teachers take advantage of female students, but female teachers take advantage of male students.
The whole dynamic between teachers and students is riddled with moral and ethical situations.
Nothing new there.
That is what all the safeguarding paperwork is for.
But the data shows the numbers are increasing.
How paperwork protects teachers from a fist in the face or a chair to the back of the head. I don’t know.
Assault is assault and should be punished. There should be consequences.
Abuse is abuse and should be punished. There should be consequences.
Outside of school, there is prison.
Inside of school, there are suspensions and exclusions. I don’t think prison is out of the question.
If we don’t punish those who abuse or assault others in some way, what stops them from doing it next time?
School behaviour policy is NOT my area of expertise.
But as a person who will likely encounter these students as they grow up, I do hope they learn not to abuse or assault people.
Teacher student disconnect
As a 27-year-old researcher and content creator (at the time of writing this) I am very familiar with online landscapes.
However, I don’t think older, more ‘in the world’ people will be as familiar.
Being nosey at the numbers, I wanted to see if the teachers age had any correlation.
I did look at other numbers but these piqued my interest.
Again looking at the UK Government data I found full-time teachers seem to be grouping in age.
There seem to be more teachers between 30 – 50 and fewer teachers in the other age brackets.
If we take a look at the percentage shift I would say there is a significant shift.
That doesn’t necessarily mean anything significant.
But.
With technology and social media playing such a huge role in children's lives, I am not sure how well teachers of that age will relate to the lives and situations those students find themselves in.
Teachers don’t get spare time to check out the latest chatGPT update, or Tik Tok trend.
They haven’t got enough time to do the job they are being asked to do when you look at teacher workload concerns.
If a teacher says something that a child thinks is offensive or goes against some meme or thing that’s happening online, a teacher could offend, frustrate, or trigger a reaction from a student without them knowing it.
Children could also be replicating or acting from something they have seen online.
Something adults may respond to because they don’t understand what is going on.
My mum shared a perfect example of this a couple of months back.
She saw two boys fighting outside a shop, and another boy recording them.
After stopping and looking around, she got concerned.
My mum isn’t tall, big or strong by any means, and often keeps to herself.
But seeing this fight she reacted.
She stormed over and started shouting at the boy that looked like was winning the fight. Trying to help the boy who was being beaten.
But when she shouted they said ‘on no no no’ it’s not real.
It’s all fake.
My mum, not believing a word, told them another person had called the police.
Which they had.
The boys then ran off laughing.
The boy acting beaten said ‘it was to see if people would react’, before running off to follow his friends.
My mum explained this to me while we were eating dinner that night, and I had to explain that people do that for content online.
People pretend to fight or do bad things to find ‘good’ people.
I don’t get it, but I know about it because I am online and see this stuff.
Teachers, parents, and adults who aren't online wouldn't necessarily understand or be aware of instances like this.
And there are loads of other instances and situations where students behave in a way that adults may not be able to understand.
I am not saying teachers need to follow online trends. But finding the reason behind behaviour could lead to an explanation.
That in turn opens up learning opportunities for students, teachers, parents but also policymakers to try and prevent poor behaviour in the first place.
This doesn’t explain the increased abuse or assaults but might be a factor as to why the increase in numbers is higher for adults than pupils.
The collapse of teaching
In my search to understand these numbers a little more, I looked at the recent teacher survey from 2023.
There were lots of worrying numbers but the things that stuck out to me, specific to this article at least were that:
- 77% of teachers said they have day-to-day problems with pupils’ inability to follow rules.
- 47% with day-to-day struggles of swearing or verbal abuse in class.
- 27% with day-to-day struggles with violence between pupils.
- 16% with day-to-day issues with physical assaults of teachers.
16% is far too high!
That is more than one and a half teachers. I know we can’t have half a teacher but still, this is on a day-to-day basis.
Some other stats.
Over the year 47% of teachers were subject to verbal abuse by a pupil, 28% by a parent or carer.
So it isn’t just the kids. Parents and carers are also an issue.
19% of teachers were subject to threats of physical assault by a pupil, and 14% were subject to assault.
However, an alarming 41% of teachers felt that their school had not dealt with abuse by a parent/carer or pupil in a satisfactory manner.
If the school doesn’t protect the teachers, and they can’t protect themselves, because then they could be seen as assaulting a child, what do they do?
Looking at the biggest concerns from teachers in England according to the NASUWT survey, workload is right at the top.
But pupil behaviour is second at 62%.
Behaviour in schools is an issue.
Online clips and teacher discussions can tell you that.
This data shows it is becoming more of an issue both for the safety of teachers and pupils but also for the profession.
74% of teachers are seriously considering leaving their current job, and 69% the teaching profession.
Will it be up to the internet to educate children?
I love online education and do support much of what it offers. But it can’t replace school!
There are lots of dangers and limitations that need to be sorted out before people can even consider the possibility.
Money, resources, and time are all in short supply.
No. Not just in the education sector. But our children are the future…
I don’t have answers, only ideas and suggestions.
School behaviour policy is NOT my area of expertise.
Behaviour hubs as described in this report seem to be helping.
Research. Science. Personal practice. That is my lane, which I try to stay in.
