Number of Pupils Thrown Out of School Jumps 18 Per Cent to Top 200 a Day

By PETER MACMAHON SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT EDITOR

THE growing problem of classroom indiscipline in Scotland was exposed yesterday by official figures which revealed that more than 200 pupils a day were excluded from the country’s schools last year.

One in four of these was sent home for violence – physical assault on teachers or fellow pupils, or fighting.

The report, which shows exclusions have risen by nearly 18 per cent in four years, prompted calls last night for headteachers to be given tougher powers to deal with unruly pupils.

Overall, the Scottish Executive figures showed there were 42,990 cases of state primary and secondary pupils being excluded in 2005- 6 – an average of 226 on each of the school year’s 190 days.

Politicians said more had to be done to tackle the problem, including cutting the number of pupils per class to give teachers greater control.

The Educational Institute of Scotland, the country’s biggest teaching union, said that despite attempts to address classroom disobedience, the figures showed indiscipline remained a major issue.

Ronnie Smith, the EIS general secretary, said: “It is essential that headteachers have clear disciplinary powers to reach the right decisions for the whole school community, free from any pressures to meet statistical targets from outside.

“At the same time, we need to learn from these statistics and focus on where the problems occur – mainly in adolescent boys, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and the upper primary and early secondary years.”

The statistics reflect growing concern among staff about rising violence in schools. Last October a survey of Scotland’s secondary school teachers found 47 per cent believed pupil violence was a problem in their school, and two months ago the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland called for teachers to be taught physical restraint techniques.

Last night Fiona Hyslop, the SNP’s education spokeswoman, said: “We need to ensure we find a positive way forward, but it’s clear that smaller class sizes would play a big part in combating disruptive behaviour in our classrooms.”

The figures, which also revealed a small rise in the number of girls being excluded, showed just under 30 pupils a day were sent home for carrying out an assault without a weapon, while a further four were excluded for assaulting staff or pupils with a weapon or improvised weapon. In addition, 21 pupils a day were excluded for fighting.

Over the year, there were more than 500 exclusions for threatening violence using a “weapon or improvised weapon”, an increase of more than 30 per cent on the year before.

Head teachers also sent home more than 70 pupils a day for “general or persistent disobedience” and more than 55 a day for “verbal abuse” of staff.

The report comes a week after two pupils were suspended from a Scottish secondary school following what unions claimed was the latest incident in a disturbing trend known as “teacher-baiting” in which pupils humiliate or deliberately provoke their teacher and film their distress to show on the internet.

In that case a French teacher at St Andrew’s Academy in Paisley was signed off work after pupils used a mobile phone to record themselves shouting in her face then posted the footage on the YouTube website.

Hugh Henry, the education minister, last night accepted more had to be done on discipline in schools but pointed out that 99 per cent of the exclusions were temporary.

He said although the total number of exclusions was 42,990, these involved only 22,500 pupils, as some were sent home more than once over the year.

And only 264 youngsters were permanently removed from school registers.

Mr Henry said: “Excluding a pupil is always a last resort and never a decision a headteacher takes lightly.

“Violence is always unacceptable but it’s important to keep this in perspective. Our schools are not battlegrounds and the majority of pupils are well-behaved.”

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