Commenting on the announcement of £900,000 for measures to help tackle pupil behaviour in schools by the Cabinet Secretary, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union, said:
 
“Today’s announcement follows campaigning by the NASUWT which has highlighted the deepening behaviour crisis in our schools.

“However, this announcement doesn’t match up to the scale of changes needed to tackle systemic issues that are contributing to the rising tide of violent and abusive pupil behaviour, which is undermining safety in schools both for pupils and for staff.

“What teachers need is more investment in and access to external specialist services to work with children and a robust commitment from the top down to back teachers when it comes to dealing with behaviour incidents.

“The problem of violent and abusive behaviour in schools is not the product of teachers lacking training to do their job. It is the responsibility of schools, employers and the government to create the conditions where positive behaviour is expected.”

Mike Corbett, NASUWT National Official Scotland, said:
 
“The measures announced around inspection and reporting of behaviour incidents do not go far enough and are unlikely to generate the culture change needed to address rising rates of violence and abuse from pupils.

“All in all this is a missed opportunity from the Cabinet Secretary to seriously begin to address the causes of poor pupil behaviour and improve the systems that should be in place to support and protect teachers and other school staff.

“In the absence of the robust provisions needed from Government, we will continue to take all steps in schools to ensure our members are protected from violence and abuse.”