BBC Survey Finds 1 in 5 Teachers in UK Assaulted by Students

A BBC-commissioned survey has revealed that nearly one in every five teachers in the UK have been targeted and physically assaulted by a student this year. One instructor told BBC News that behavior was a “never-ending battle,” while another reported that spitting, swearing, and chair tossing were common.

The teachers union says its members have reported more violence and abuse from students since the Covid pandemic. The Department for Education (DFE) claims it has spent £10 million in behaviour hubs to help schools.

In February and March, BBC News used the survey application Teacher Tapp to interview up to 9,000 teachers in England about their classroom conduct experiences.

A higher proportion of elementary and secondary instructors reported students fighting, pushing, and shoving than two years before.

Lorraine Meah has been a primary school teacher for 35 years, the past five of which she has decided to pursue supply work, which involves replacing lessons on an as-needed basis, because it is more flexible.

She claims that students’ behaviour has deteriorated over time.

She claims she has witnessed nursery and reception-aged children “spitting and swearing,” with the worst behavior coming from five and six-year-olds with “dangerous tendencies” such as hurling chairs.

“You will have three or four students in your class that exhibit problematic behaviour. “That’s difficult to deal with when you have a class of 30,” adds Mrs Meah, who teaches in the Midlands.

Student Behavior Getting Worse

Another Midlands-based teacher, Zak Copley, conducted replacement teaching for a year and similarly thinks behavior is “definitely getting worse” and sometimes feels like a “never-ending battle”.

On one occasion, the computer science teacher stated that he had to separate students when they started “throwing punches” at each other. “The room was completely ransacked,” he recalls, adding that items were “ripped off the wall.”

St John Fisher Catholic Academy in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, is working hard to improve the behavior of its 11 to 18-year-old students.

Ofsted classified it “inadequate” in 2022, citing poor student behaviour, particularly regular fighting, as making others feel insecure. “There was a bullying culture and an atmosphere of intimidation,” says Karl Mackey, the school’s fifth headteacher in six years.

Since Mr Mackey’s arrival a year ago, his new behavior policy has seen students rewarded for good attendance.

Corridors are closed to prevent youngsters from wandering the entire school if they miss a lesson. There are severe rules about using the restroom during lectures, and cell phones are prohibited.

He has also introduced new topics such as dance, drama, and music.

Tamika, a Year 9 student, was expelled from her previous school and claims students at St John Fisher have “settled down” after the rule modifications. “We had a lot of internal truancy – kids going into toilet cubicles vaping and using mobile phones.”

On another occasion, a student who had been expelled from class attempted to re-enter the room with a cricket bat, he stated.

“I find it easier to co-operate with teachers and speak to them if I am struggling with a lesson, and I can get my head down,” she went on to say.

“There are fewer students wandering around kicking off. If they do, there will be mechanisms in place to help them reflect on their behavior, such as being isolated or sent home.”

Mr Mackey said the school does its best to avoid suspending students whenever possible. He claims that the entire school community, including local citizens, has witnessed a positive change in student behavior.

“There has been a significant shift. This year, you’ll see kids in class every day, on time, dressed appropriately, and working hard,” he added.

In the Teachers Tapp survey, the BBC also found:

• 30% of all teachers said they had witnessed pupils fighting during the week they responded to the questions
• Two in five respondents said they had witnessed aggressively violent behaviour that needed an intervention in a single week
• 15% of secondary teachers said they have experienced sexual harassment from a pupil when working at school.

According to Dr. Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT union, teachers have reported that violence and abuse in schools “have risen notably” since the outbreak.

“This is being compounded by cuts to specialist behaviour and mental health services for children, which have left teachers doing their best to fill the gaps and meet the needs of pupils that really require the skills of specialist counsellors and therapists,” he went on to say.

Former DFE behaviour advisor Tom Bennett told BBC One’s Breakfast show on Tuesday that it has been a problem for “decades” after being “brushed under the carpet”. “Up until about five or six years ago there wasn’t much by way of [teachers] training in behaviour management, which would probably astonish a lot of people,” he told me.

“We need to make sure schools are looking at teaching the behaviour they need, having boundaries and having consequences – a fairly simple structure but quite hard to put into practice.”

The DFE claims that “decisive action” is being done to address pupil conduct. A spokeswoman noted that it had quadrupled its mental health and wellbeing plan for head teachers this year, with £1.1 million backing.

In 2020, the DFE introduced a £10 million behaviour hub scheme, which will match hundreds of struggling schools with others to discover innovative ways of dealing with poor conduct. The program will end this year.

According to the BBC survey, one in every five respondents has encountered online harassment from a parent or guardian since September. A comparable number reported verbal abuse.

According to the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), certain members are encountering escalating concerns with a “minority” of parents. “It can be face-to-face, on the phone, or on social media… enough is enough,” says Debra de Muschamp, a regional NAHT secretary who oversees three primary schools in northeast England.

According to NAHT, which is leading a local campaign to combat parent-on-teacher abuse, head teachers have had their tyres slashed and physically assaulted.