Teachers paid millions over classroom attacks

TEACHERS were awarded tens of millions of pounds in compensation last year after suffering attacks from pupils, injuries and discrimination in the workplace, figures show.

One 44-year-old received more than £98,000 relating to “serious psychological injuries” after an assault by a pupil.

The woman, who was headbutted by a student at a school in the North-east of England, was so traumatised she quit the profession.

The NASUWT teaching union said it had secured £27.7million for its members in the past 12 months – up 72 per cent on the £16.1million won in 2015 and up from £19.8million and £20.7million in 2014 and 2013.

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: “If employers took the welfare of staff seriously and followed good employment and health and safety practices, these cases would never have to be taken and members would have been spared the stress and anxiety of pursuing legal claims.

“Behind every one of these cases are teachers who have had their careers, lives and health blighted in the course of simply trying to do their job and improve the lives of children.

Dangerous

“The Government has given little incentive to employers to improve working conditions and working practices following cuts to health and safety inspections and the callous undermining of equalities legislation.”

The union also secured £10,100 for a 57-year-old in the North-east who was a teacher at a youth offender institution. They had unwittingly inhaled dangerous fumes from a chemical-based product.

Separate data from the National Union of Teachers, which does not publish an overall compensation figure, also reveals tales of violence in the classroom.

One teacher was awarded nearly £48,000 after suffering a “prolonged assault” by a girl pupil at an academy in Northwest England. The girl “flew into a rage” after being told to stop chewing gum.

The NUT, which holds its annual conference in Cardiff over the weekend, said another teacher in the South-east was awarded £125,000 after suffering occupational stress because of “a sustained period of harassment and bullying”.

The woman quit the profession with a “significant and debilitating psychiatric injury”.