Kids as 'young as five' attacking school staff in wave of violence in Edinburgh

Edinburgh teachers have endured physical and verbal abuse from students as young as five years old, an investigation has revealed. Teachers in the capital spoke anonymously to our sister title, Edinburgh Live, whose probe uncovered a culture of violence at schools in the city.

Educators have said that classroom trouble has been increasing for years, with children hitting staff and throwing chairs. One teacher said: “I often think that if I described things that happen at work, people would never guess I work at a primary school.

"They would think it was either a young offenders' home or a prison. The public would be shocked if they knew what was going on in our schools.”

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Despite that, teachers maintained that the children were not to blame, but rather the lack of funding and resources which leaves educators overstretched and students without adequate support.

Over three verbal or physical assaults were found on teachers per day between January to June of 2023 and January to June of 2024, according to Freedom of Information data. Edinburgh schools reported 386 assaults in 2023 which increased to 397 in 2024. Spread over the 211 school days in the period, this amounts to more than three assaults per day.

However, Phill Pearce, president of EIS Union, believes violent abuse is under-reported and the real numbers are much higher. An EIS survey of over 1000 Edinburgh teachers found that since 2019, 90 per cent of them have experienced some form of verbal or physical abuse.

One primary teacher said that a recent class of six and seven-year-olds was the most challenging of her 25-year career - with violent incidents occurring daily over the course of the term.

She said: “There were chairs thrown at pupils, chairs thrown at me and other staff. We were hit, kicked, we were pushed. We had to remove any kind of heavy toys because it was too dangerous to have them in the classroom. This was happening three, four, or five times a day at its worst.

“There were times that the class was barricaded in. I had nightmares from that year. It’s going to take me a while to get over. I had a few episodes during the year where I was signed off work. I was literally just crying and pacing the floor.”

The survey also found that 62 percent of teachers said they experienced mental health problems or stress as a result of violence or verbal abuse at school. Another teacher described an incident where a P7 student grew violent after “he wasn’t allowed to go on his iPad”.

The teacher said: “Student teachers were holding the door shut so he couldn’t get into the hall. He threw a box at my head, it jerked my neck around. The kid punched the janitor which smashed his glasses and bloodied his nose.

"It feels like you’re walking on eggshells with these students. You’re almost just waiting for something to happen. I can’t teach properly because I have to suit the needs of one child so they don’t kick off.”

Some teachers had even been hospitalised by incidents from children as young as five. One primary educator, who teaches students with additional needs, said: “Recently I was bitten on the hand because the student wanted something and couldn’t communicate fast enough.”

The bite broke skin and he was sent to the Royal Infirmary for antibiotics. On another occasion, the teacher sustained a black eye after a child slammed a door in his face.

He added: “From what I'm seeing in mainstream schools, violence seems on the rise - but it shouldn’t be seen as the norm. There is a slight expectation of ‘this is what happens’.”

Around 57 per cent of teachers feel that abuse is accepted as “part of the job” in their school, according to the survey. Another teacher, whose career spanned 30 years, felt teachers have grown “desensitised” to poor pupil behaviour.

She said: “A student recently called me a ‘fat ugly c**t’. She was eight or nine years old. If this was 15 years ago, I would have gone to the office and demanded the parents come in for a formal apology. Now it’s not going to happen.

“I would not recommend teaching to anybody now. Young teachers are the leaving profession burnt out after five years. It is tough. You’ve got to have thick skin.”

An increase in funding for pupils with additional support needs and a “significant reduction” in teacher workload has been called for by the EIS. Phill Pearce, president of the Edinburgh EIS, said “the problem is pretty endemic” across the city.

He added: “In terms of the support available in school, they've been diminishing year on year for over a decade. Numbers of additional support for learning teachers, EAL teachers, speech and language therapists, child psychologists, all of those services, all of those numbers have been slashed over many years.”

Mr Pearce added that part of the problem is that PSAs - who provide extra support to students - are understaffed and underpaid. This leaves teachers without enough support for students with additional needs, some of whom develop dysregulated or violent behaviour.

One PSA said: “Somebody actually brought a leaflet for Aldi into our work one day and left it on the table because the hourly rate was pretty much the same as what we get paid in mainstream schools. Only [at Aldi] you're not going to be assaulted the same way.”

Cammy Day, Edinburgh City Council Leader, said: “We take reports of violence in our schools incredibly seriously and have a zero-tolerance approach to violence against teachers and teaching staff within our schools. We are aware that over the last decade, and against a backdrop of funding cuts, the learning environment has changed as a result of an increasing number of children with recorded additional support needs.

“We want to get it right for Edinburgh’s children and staff and our officers are working closely with colleagues and unions to offer the best support we can.”

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