Education secretary Jenny Gilruth felt the full force of teachers’ anger and frustration over violent behaviour in schools when she appeared at the EIS annual general meeting in Aviemore this evening.
One delegate, Kirsteen Mathie, asked if it was “going to take a teacher being murdered at work” before the government took “real action to protect staff”.
Another teacher, Bernadette McClenaghan, questioned why - in a country that shows zero tolerance towards violence in other spheres - teachers and other school staff are having to contend with “violent and aggressive behaviour from pupils”.
“If you were assaulted at work, I am sure the police would be sent for,” the teacher told Ms Gilruth.
Gilruth grilled
The importance of the issue for school staff was underlined as delegates loudly applauded the teachers grilling Ms Gilruth over behaviour - during a Q&A session that also touched on the challenges posed by the under-resourcing of additional support needs and the failure to deliver the promised 90-minute cut to class-contact time.
In response, Ms Gilruth said she was clear that violence was completely unacceptable and that no one should feel unsafe in their place of work - but she was interrupted by a teacher who shouted out “nothing is being done”.
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Ms Gilruth responded that she was at the AGM to listen to teachers.
She said that female politicians were also being subjected to violent and aggressive behaviour on “a routine and regular basis”.
“There is a connection between the misogyny that is experienced by female politicians, and which is being experienced by female teachers in our classrooms,” she added.
“There are challenges just now with young men, with toxic masculinity and we shouldn’t seek to divide some of this when I’m here obviously trying to engage with you on how we support that and move ahead.”
Ms Gilruth suggested that a society-wide response was needed as efforts to address behaviour would be unsuccessful without buy-in from parents.
Schools should exclude, says Gilruth
She also referenced the behaviour action plan published by the Scottish government in August 2024, which was designed “to ensure we get that change in our schools”. More guidance on consequences would be published in the coming weeks, she said. She emphasised that exclusion was a consequence at the disposal of schools and one they should be using.
Ms Gilruth said it was “not good enough” if schools were getting “pushback” from local authorities when they tried to use the sanction.
“You should be able to use it and use your professional judgement to apply it,” she told delegates.
The EIS AGM runs until Saturday.
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