Shocking violence aimed at teachers

But unions last night warned that the real figure could be even higher because of the systemic under-reporting of assaults.

An investigation by The Northern Echo found that councils across the North- East recorded 1,115 assaults between 2006 and last year.

The information shows:

● Weapons were used against teachers working for the old Durham County Council 39 times;

● Staff in Newcastle said they had been punched in the stomach, ribs, and face while on duty;

● An incident in Middlesbrough saw an attacker put their hands around a teacher’s throat;

● Sunderland teachers complained of cuts, bruises and puncture wounds;

● In South Tyneside, teachers were bitten, scratched and bruised;

● A teacher in Hartlepool was “deliberately burned” by a pupil;

● A member of staff working for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council received a blow to the head, which caused sickness and dizziness.

“This is a matter of serious concern for teachers,” said Vince Allen, of the National Union of Teachers (NUT).

Durham County Council reported the highest number of assaults, with 266.

Darlington Borough Council recorded 163, Stockton Borough Council 139 and Sunderland City Council 122.

But unions singled out two of the area’s urban authorities for criticism, after Middlesbrough Council reported that 11 assaults had taken place in three years, with Newcastle City Council recording only 17.

Mr Allen said the difference in numbers suggested that teachers were being discouraged from reporting incidents to preserve schools’ reputations.

“What you have here is clear evidence of local authorities who are determined to select appropriate information,” he said.

“The perception that the NUT has is that the level of assaults on teachers is underreported by schools.

“There are instances where schools don’t want teachers to report the matter because they do not want statistics to show up the school.

“It is absolutely not the case that teaching in County Durham is more difficult than in Newcastle, for example.”

Sue Foreman, national executive member of teachers’ union the NASUWT, said the under-reporting of assaults was such a concern that a campaign had been launched to make sure teachers record all incidents.

She said: “These figures cover only a fraction of the assaults that actually take place. We did a survey recently and found that the number of assaults reported to us far outweighed the ones that were recorded by the local authorities.

“Most teachers find that a lot of schools do not want it reported because it gives them a bad name.”

But a spokesman for Newcastle City Council said: “We have absolutely no evidence of teachers being pressured to not report incidents of this kind. Indeed, we would strongly advise all such incidents to be reported and fully investigated.

“Attacks on teachers by pupils are not tolerated in our schools, and we are dedicated to giving teachers the support they need to do their jobs to the best of their ability and take very thorough and firm action both to prevent and in response to this kind of behaviour.”

A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said: “We have provided figures for physical assaults which were carried out with ‘malice aforethought’, and not incidents where unintentional physical contact resulted in injury.

“Such incidents could occur in one of our special schools – Beverley School, for instance, which is a school for severely autistic children.

“These are children who are not violent or malicious individuals, but who have behavioural issues that could inadvertently cause injury to staff.

“This category was agreed with the unions some five years ago after discussing it with the Health and Safety Executive and, while such incidents are reported and in some cases investigated, they are not classed as physical assaults.”

David Williams, director of children and young people’s services at Durham County Council, said the figures for his authority could be expected to be high because of the number of teachers it employs.

He said: “We are, by far, the biggest authority in terms of population, the number of schools and the number of teachers.

“Any assault or act of violence against a member of staff is entirely unacceptable.

“All staff and teachers should be able to work in an atmosphere that is free of violence and intimidation.

“The council does all it can to support all schools, headteachers and managers to reduce the problem.”

Of the remaining authorities, Northumberland recorded 118 assaults, Gateshead 116, Hartlepool 86, South Tyneside 47 and Redcar and Cleveland 30. Figures for North Yorkshire and North Tyneside were unavailable.