Staff in Aberdeen schools are suffering from hundreds of incidents of physical and verbal abuse every year according to new figures.
That’s after a Freedom of Information request to Aberdeen City Council has revealed that 911 incidents of violence to council staff were reported across the Granite City in 2023.
The numbers translate to five incidents every day across the 190-day school year across the authority.
Meanwhile, 943 incidents of violence have been recorded against ‘education and children’s services’ staff in Aberdeenshire.
A further 1,682 incidents were also reported against ‘council staff’ in Angus.
Now, the alarming numbers have been labelled only “the tip of the iceberg” amid a school safety “crisis.”
GMB, a union which represents school staff including support assistants, janitors and admin staff say that despite the numbers appearing high – only one third of incidents are ever recorded.
Violence ‘shocking’ but ‘no longer surprising’
Sean Robertson, the union’s organiser in all three local authorities, said: “These figures are shocking but sadly no longer surprising.
“Violence against staff in our schools is clearly at crisis levels but official records are still underestimating the scale of that crisis. These reports are the tip of the iceberg.
“From what our members tell us, the incidents of violence and abuse that are not being reported, recorded or investigated could far outstrip those that are.
“That must change as a matter of urgency. Staff must be given the time and encouragement to report incidents properly and should expect those incidents to be properly investigated and acted on.”
School violence whistleblowing form removed
The shocking news comes after Aberdeen City Council dropped a whistleblowing form used to report school violence this week.
The form was introduced back in March after school staff across the region were reportedly being discouraged from reporting violence.
A February Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) report which highlighted violent pupil behaviour in the city’s schools, was also published in the lead up to it’s introduction.
But now the form has been removed from the authority’s website.
Ron Constable, branch secretary of the EIS, said he was not surprised the form was being removed while speaking to BBC Scotland.
He added that the form was “totally inadequate” and that teachers had fears of “being identified” from using it.
However, a statement issued by the education committee states that the form was “only used once” and was removed after an “agreement between all stakeholders”.
An Aberdeen City Council spokesperson said: “We are unable to comment ahead of committee meeting next week.”
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