The SNP education secretary has been branded “out of touch” by an Aberdeen teachers’ union leader for describing a report on violence in city schools as just a “snapshot”.
Ron Constable, co-leader of the EIS teaching union in Aberdeen, said it is “astonishing” the SNP minister had not read the full report released last week.
The findings showed:
- Almost 800 teachers responded to the union’s survey across the Granite City.
- More than a third said they had been physically attacked by a pupil in class.
- Almost half said they saw violent behaviour from children in schools every day.
Mr Constable was among those to react the day after Ms Gilruth suggested the report’s findings are for Aberdeen City Council to pick up.
She also said the government can’t base national policy on data from one area – despite teaching unions drawing attention to a nationwide problem.
‘Out of touch’
Mr Constable said: “If an education secretary is saying that then they are out of touch with what is going on in Scotland as a whole.”
He said it was “alarming” that the education secretary had chosen to caution against demonising children.
“The comments are heartfelt comments from our members – people who are going beyond the call of duty”, Mr Constable added.
He said the city council should recognise there is a problem around violence and aggression.
Report in Aberdeen reflected nationally
Mike Corbett, from the teaching union NASUWT Scotland, said that more violence is being felt in classrooms across the country.
He said: “The reports in Aberdeen are sadly representative of the picture right across the country, and we have presented the cabinet secretary with a wealth of evidence of the scale of the problem, as well as a list of recommendations of the steps we believe are necessary to tackle it.
“Thus far we have failed to see the cabinet secretary take the steps we believe are needed to stem the tide of violence and abuse in schools. The measures she has announced to date fail to match up to the scale of changes needed.”
Humza Yousaf hasn’t read it either
First Minister Humza Yousaf was asked by journalists on Monday whether he expects his education secretary to read reports about violence in schools.
He highlighted Ms Gilruth’s former career in teaching and said she has engaged widely with groups, read “numerous reports” and hosted violence in school summits.
He added: “I haven’t read the report in question. Of course Jenny Gilruth and I and others will make sure that we continue to engage with the EIS.”
An Aberdeen City Council spokesman said authority co-leaders are scheduled to meet unions in response to the EIS survey.
“A review of our data demonstrates that the vast majority of our children and young people continue to behave well,” the council said.
“Unfortunately, there are some differences in a small number of children due to the challenges so many have faced over the last few years, not least through the impact of the Covid pandemic which also increased pressure on our staff.
“This is not unique to Aberdeen as has been suggested, but occurs across all local authorities in Scotland.”
The spokesman added that the rise in reported incidents over the last four years is due to a “more robust reporting system”.
He said: “The EIS survey highlights that our staff have a better understanding of how to report incidents than their colleagues in other local authorities.
“There has been no rise in the level of incidents reported in Aberdeen schools over the last two years and no evidence to suggest that teaching staff are leaving as a result of violence or aggression.”
Education secretary ‘happy’ to meet with union
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The education secretary met with Aberdeen City Council in Aberdeen last Friday, to discuss their response to this local EIS report.
“The recommendations in the report are rightly for Aberdeen City Council to respond to. A full copy of this report from the EIS was only shared today (Monday) with Scottish Government.
“Notwithstanding, work is well underway to bring forward a joint National Action Plan with COSLA to set out the range of actions needed at both local and national level. That work is being directly informed by our teaching unions, including the EIS, at national level.
“Whilst the recommendations in this report are for Aberdeen City Council, Ms Gilruth would be happy to meet with Mr Constable, alongside Andrea Bradley, noting her responsibilities as the National EIS General Secretary.”
Conversation