Teachers across UK schools are ‘locking classroom doors’ to keep aggressive pupils out amid a surge in disruptive behaviour by students, unions say.
Shocking stories have emerged of teachers getting punched, pupils throwing objects across classrooms and skipping lessons as well as students beating each other up.
It comes as Department for Education figures show school suspensions have nearly doubled in the last six years.
There were 129,151 suspensions in all school types in the 2016/17 autumn term compared to 247,366 in the 2022/23 autumn term. The number of pupils getting permanently excluded has also shot up from 2,816 in 2016 to 3,104 in 2023.
Teaching unions say they have been contacted by frightened teachers who are fearing for their jobs.
Teachers at the Oasis Academy on the Isle of Sheppey went on strike due to poor working conditions and abuse in November
Teachers at Pencoedtre High School in Barry went on strike after suffering more than 50 serious incidents of verbal and physical abuse last month
Mark Morris, of the NASUWT union, said: ‘None of us went into this job to be abused. Teachers are scared of challenging groups of kids because of the abuse.
‘They are also getting misogynistic behaviour from boys and girls, putting up with sexualised language.’
Mr Morris said one of the most disturbing ‘trends’ was internal truanting, pupils going to school but not into lessons.
He added: ‘They wander round and knock on doors of classrooms to speak to their friends.’
Mr Morris, a national executive member for the NASUWT, also said things had got worse since the Covid-19 pandemic.
A report by consultancy Public First last year revealed lockdowns caused a ‘seismic shift’ in parents’ attitudes to school attendance.
The research suggested parents believed their children did not need to be in school full time if they were anxious, increasingly thought that ‘life was too short’ not to have a term-time holiday as well as not being bothered about fines for absence.
Teaching unions have also reported a large number of violent incidents between pupils (file photo)
Teachers have been forced to lock classroom doors amid fears of having to keep aggressive pupils out
The latest regional figures revealed the North East of England had the highest number of exclusions and suspensions with 66,928 recorded between 2016 and 2022.
Redcar and Cleveland had the highest rate with 4.74 percent of total enrolled pupils for that area being either excluded or suspended.
Chris Zarraga, 54, from Schools North East, told The Mirror: ‘All staff in school are acting more as social workers than teachers and it’s beyond their training and resources.
‘A lot of schools are reporting that prepandemic you would largely have the support of the parents if the child was misbehaving. Post-pandemic, they refuse to accept the school’s view and take the child’s side.
‘That is having a huge impact on staff wellbeing and retention.’
NEU chief Daniel Kebede also warned that violence was a problem in schools.
He said: ‘We’ve seen gangs re-forming which haven’t been active for some time. Violence has no place in our schools and colleges.
Ofsted’s chief executive Amanda Spielman said in her final annual report that disruptive pupil behaviour and absenteeism are becoming more commonplace
‘School is where all school staff, students, teachers, and support staff should feel and be safe.’
Teachers at Pencoedtre High School in Barry went on strike last month after suffering more than 50 serious incidents of verbal and physical abuse since the start of the school year in September.
This was also the case at Oasis Academy in Sheerness where teachers have reported being pushed and shoved by children, chairs thrown and racial abuse to black members of staff.
It comes as school watchdog Ofsted’s latest annual report stated that absenteeism and disruptive pupil behaviour was becoming more commonplace.
Ofsted’s outgoing chief executive Amanda Spielman also warned that secondary schools are plagued by a growing number of children playing ‘internal truancy’, where they wander corridors and hang out in toilets instead of going to lessons.
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: ‘Our ongoing £10million Behaviour Hubs programme aims to support up to 700 schools over three years.’