Over 1,600 violent incidents in schools prompt demands for better teacher protection
A teachers’ representative told a council meeting that the numbers remain worrying.
More than 1,600 violent incidents against school staff were recorded in Dumfries and Galloway last year, prompting calls for urgent action to better protect teachers and school employees.
The figures were raised at this week’s meeting of the education, skills and community wellbeing committee by Julie Irving, a teachers’ representative on the committee.
Mrs Irving, a primary school teacher, expressed concerns about the stats despite a slight reduction on the previous year.
In 2025/26, 1,614 violent incidents involving employees were recorded across Dumfries and Galloway schools. The previous year there were 1,738 violent incidents recorded.
Mrs Irving said: “Regarding the number of violent incidents to employees — I do know it looks as though this is down on last year, but we are still talking 1,614 violent incidents to employees.
“I wonder what’s being done to support staff and managers and how we’re going to work to get this down to an acceptable level.”
John Thin, the council’s head of education resources, acknowledged the scale of the problem and outlined the work being done to address it.
Mr Thin said: “In terms of the numbers of violent incidents in our schools, that is obviously a significant area of work that we’ve been looking to address over the last weeks, months and indeed years.
“It is an escalating picture at times and we are obviously looking very carefully at the data that we hold.”
He added: “The data is much more accurate now through the use of the health and safety portal,” he said. “We are able to identify patterns and risks, and are able to put in mitigations.”
Mr Thin pointed to a number of initiatives already underway, including a distress behaviours working group which is examining a strategic approach to the issue.
The group, chaired by Hugh Smith and Heather Smith, is developing mitigations and approaches to ensure appropriate support and training for staff — including delivery of Team Teach, a recognised training programme used in schools to help manage challenging behaviour.
“The support team and the health and safety team are able to go and support the schools,” Mr Thin added. “The work is ongoing and is reported through both the education health and safety group and the joint safety committee, so it does have a level of scrutiny on it.”