Schools won’t expel violent pupils as it ‘doesn’t look good’

SCHOOLS are refusing to expel unruly pupils despite a rise in classroom violence.

Latest figures show the number of expulsions in Scotland has dropped in recent years, although thousands of staff have been assaulted.

Last night, teaching unions said this was to prevent schools looking bad in league tables.

Mike Corbett, president of NASUWT Scotland, said: ‘It’s a deliberate attempt to cover up violence so it is not recorded on official statistics, as that reflects badly on the school.

‘Where there’s been a violent incident, we would like to see that pupil removed. Parents would prefer that as well.’

Scottish Government figures show the number of pupils expelled has more than halved over seven years. In 2006-07, 44,794 pupils from secondary, primary and special schools were expelled. By 2012-13, this had dropped to 21,955.

The Unison union recorded 7,942 assaults against staff in schools in 2012-13.

Dave Watson, head of campaigns at Unison Scotland, said: ‘There is a culture of underreporting in schools. It means we don’t get to see the true extent of what’s going on.’

Mr Watson said he had dealt with a case in a school near Glasgow where a support assistant was repeatedly hit with a hammer.

Earlier this year, it emerged that a nine-year-old pupil had been allowed to remain at an Ayr primary school even though he broke a teacher’s ribs and gave her a black eye.

Chris McGovern, president of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘Violence is an issue for a significant number of schools and its occurrence should not be swept under the carpet or disguised by internal suspensions.’

A spokesman for council umbrella body Cosla said: ‘The vast majority of pupils in Scotland’s schools are well behaved. Scotland’s councils take their duty of care to both staff and pupils extremely seriously and that is why they have plans and policies in place to deal with violence when it does occur in the most appropriate way.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We take the issue of violence in schools very seriously.

‘The latest research into behaviour did not indicate significant issues with violence in schools and found broad support for the current approach.’