A Scottish teacher who was attacked by a pupil in the classroom has said how the ordeal had left him with life altering disability that means he is unable to hold his newborn baby.
The primary school teacher says that despite such incidents taking place, teachers across the country are scared to report aggressive assaults due to a “toxic culture of teacher blaming” in schools.
He says that teachers are not offered enough protection within the education system and says that a lot of professionals feel they are unsupported in their jobs, the Daily Record reports.
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The teacher, who asked not to be named, told the Record: “I was severely injured when a child jumped on my back in school. I have been left with a life-changing disability and I am in severe pain daily.
“The incident meant that I could not hold my new-born baby for months and, even now, I still can’t lift her up properly.
“Unfortunately, there is a culture of a lack of reporting of violence and aggression in schools, this is combined with a toxic culture of teacher blame, leading to teachers feeling unsupported.
“There is not enough protection for teachers in a society that is becoming more distant from a culture of respect towards the profession and one in which violence and aggression is increasingly becoming the norm.”
Another teacher, who also wished to remain anonymous, told the Record that they frequently struggle to deliver lessons due to constant disruption in the classroom.
They said: “We have fire alarms being set off regularly, pupils running around corridors during class time, some causing disruption by coming into lessons they are not timetabled for or just defiantly not coming to their lesson at all.
“There is a constant undermining of teachers’ authority which is impacting on our self-respect and undermining our personal mental health and wellbeing.”
The Record has been attempting to tackle youth violence as part of its Our Kids … Our Future, with many experts telling us that more needs to be done to address the issue within schools.
Mike Corbett, national officer for teaching union NASUWT, said the teacher’s testimony of “toxic culture of teacher blame” in Scottish schools is “all too accurate”.
He said: “This description of the culture in some schools is, unfortunately, all too accurate – teachers too often do not have access to appropriate responses to address threatening and violent behaviour or, worse still, they find themselves being blamed for it.
“The Record’s ‘Our Kids… Our Future’ campaign to try and address an increase in youth violence is timely and hopefully can help to foster a more positive atmosphere in schools and the wider community”.
Source: Edinburgh Live
