Head teachers are “covering up” pupil violence and aggression due to concerns that reporting bad behaviour will stain their reputation, union bosses say.
There have been reports that swearing at teachers and violent incidents have worsened since pupils returned to classrooms during the pandemic.
However, exclusions remain rare with only one pupil “removed from the register”, which means they were not allowed to return to their original school, according to figures from 2021.
Three years ago three students were removed and in the 2010 academic year the figure was 60. Mike Corbett, the officer for Scotland at NASUWT, the union representing teachers and head teachers, said: “Teachers, who maybe in another scenario would have excluded a pupil for a serious, violent incident, are instead pushing these problems under the carpet. A big element of that is reputational, head teachers will do anything they can to avoid the focus coming on to their school.”
The rate of temporary exclusions also reached a record low. In the 2020 academic year there were 8,322 cases compared with nearly 15,000 two years before and 26,800 in 2010. Seamus Searson, the general secretary at the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, told The Herald that the statistics reflected a drive to mask bad behaviour within schools.
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“Teachers are prevented from reporting all of the incidents. They’re expected to contain children who are exhibiting those issues,” he said. “Local authorities measure head teachers by the number of exclusions. If you have a lot of exclusions, you’re considered a poor head teacher, so they avoid exclusions to avoid getting a black mark against their name.
“Teachers are encouraged not to make complaints about youngsters because, if there are no complaints, then the authorities don’t have to deal with them.”
Officers from the SSTA met Scottish government ministers to discuss concerns from members about behaviour. Ministers were allegedly warned about growing anxiety about disruptive and abusive students.
Teachers feel ‘dictated to’ by Holyrood and council politicians with no links to schools
Corbett said there is pressure from councils to reduce the number of excluded pupils. “And this is because of a Scottish government policy aimed at reducing exclusions. Ultimately, that pressure falls on individual head teachers,” he said. “Reducing exclusions requires additional staff to work on a one-to-one basis with these pupils; it might mean they will temporarily go into a specialised unit.” He said “there are simply not the resources needed for that”.
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The Scottish government said: “Violence is never acceptable and the safety of pupils and staff at school is paramount. We advocate an approach for schools and local authorities to work with pupils on the underlying reasons behind inappropriate behaviour.
“We have been clear with schools and local authorities that exclusion should be the last resort. The guidance places greater importance on preventative approaches, including good behaviour management.”
