Falkirk Council: Review ordered as attacks in classroom rise sharply

A shocking rise in the number of assaults on public sector workers in Falkirk will be the subject of a review, councillors agreed at a meeting of Falkirk Council’s executive on Tuesday.

The issue was raised by Councillor James Bundy, after a Sunday newspaper report revealed 51 public-sector workers are verbally or physically assaulted every day in Scotland.

The same story found that Falkirk Council saw the largest increase in the past five years, rising from 298 in 2018-19 to 826 in 2022-23.

The figures, he said, reflect a previous Freedom of Information report that revealed up to five assaults a day were happening in Falkirk schools.

Mr Bundy said: “No member of staff in this council should go to work fearing physical or verbal assault.

“But for too many that is the reality and it’s not just in teaching. Since I put forward this motion I’ve had emails and calls from constituents and further afield, highlighting the threat they feel in their day to work.

“Once teacher said to me that they fear for their life going to school and I think that is totally unacceptable.”

Mr Bundy added teachers are telling him that “not enough is being done” and in one school staff told him they “didn’t even know there was a reporting process”.

Falkirk Council director Karen Algie told councillors that work is already well underway to address the issue and said she was was disappointed that some teachers were not aware of the process.

She told members: “There is considerable work ongoing already and part of that has been joint awareness raising sessions in schools by our health and safety team and our trade unions.

“The trade unions are getting on board and absolutely with us trying to get people to understand how to report these issues.

She acknowledged that there has been an increase in issues but said that “part of that has been the very proactive work we’ve been doing to raise that awareness”.

“It’s not good that we’ve seen the increase but it is on the back of the awareness raising we’ve been doing.”

Ms Algie said that they were trying to understand the reasons behind the rise in assaults.

But she added that better reporting is also helping them get more information on the type of attacks that are taking place.

She said: “There has been an increase since Covid and there are a number of reasons.

“We have also seen a significant increase in children in our schools who have additional support needs.”

Ms Algie insisted that mechanisms are in place to provide support to staff facing verbal or physical abuse and ensure appropriate actions are taken.

She said training is now being rolled out through a work group of education officers, trade unions and the council’s health and safety team.

“Better availability of data through awareness raising means they can better analyse that to look at some of the core issues and make sure support and training is absolutely targeted,” she said.

SNP councillor Bryan Deakin said: “Much of what we are hearing about violence at work and more recently about behaviour in schools come from a system across the country that is under pressure.

“The impact of lockdown and the lack of social interaction are yet to be fully understood, while the increase on pressure on families from the cost of living crisis translates to a higher level of anxiety, uncertainty and emotion.”

“This can often lead to inappropriate behaviours which at times can escalate to unacceptable levels.”

He added that analysis of the reporting showed that the vast majority of incidents are not assaults and most of them take place in primary schools by pupils due to “disregulated or distressed behaviour”.

Labour councillor Siobhan Paterson said it would have been helpful to be given more information about the types of assault.

She said: “That’s not to belittle the effects verbal abuse can have on employees but we need to know what we are talking about so that we know what support is best to put in place,” she said.

“We also don’t want to sensationalise the conditions our teachers are working in because a lot of our staff love working in the Falkirk area and I would hate an unwarranted view that there is escalating violence.”

But Conservative group leader James Kerr said he had been speaking to school staff, including one who had been off work for two years after being attacked by a pupil.

“She told me that it got to the stage where she fears for her life,” he said.

Another told him that she had been attacked by a pupil with an iron bar and told Councillor Kerr – ‘I know he’s going to kill me’.

He said: “Both these women feel they have been let down by the authority and say they have not been listened to,” he said.

“We have a complaints procedure which I am glad to hear has been improved but I feel it’s only the tip of the iceberg.”

He also spoke of an incident where a teacher had been surrounded by 30 pupils, which had left her “devastated” although no physical assault had taken place.

“We need to have confidence that these procedures will work,” he said.

“I hope the new procedures we are looking at will help the reporting of these incidents.”