Compensation worth more than £100,000 has been paid out this year to Scottish teachers attacked by pupils, a teaching union has revealed.
The three teachers received a combined £105,000 in damages after assaults by pupils, including one who was headbutted by a student, EIS said.
One teacher was awarded £55,000 after a pupil hurled obscenities and proceeded to violently assault them.
READ MORE: Less known about performance of Scotland's schools 'than at any time since 1950s'
Another was grabbed by the hair by a student and repeatedly headbutted, forcing them out of work while they recovered from concussion. The teacher received £20,000.
No details were given for the third case.
Teaching union EIS said that 11 members were awarded compensation for injuries suffered at work in the last year, totalling £290,700.
The highest single compensation was £141,500, given to one teacher who suffered “long-term damage” to their arms and legs, with “lasting implications for their future career” when they slipped and fell leaving a classroom.
Commenting on the awards, which has risen from the 2018 figure of nearly £230,000, EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: “While the sums involved represent success for the EIS in pursuing appropriate compensation for injuries suffered at work, our desire is to eventually report a zero figure for compensation in the future owing to the elimination of these types of work-related injuries.
“The most common cause of injuries remains slips, trips and falls.
“These types of incidents are entirely avoidable with correct adherence to appropriate health and safety procedures in the workplace.
“Schools, colleges and universities will never be entirely risk free, but it is essential that all facilities are as safe as possible for learners and staff alike.”
Mr Flanagan also expressed concern about potential changes to health and safety legislation in the wake of Brexit and said “Many valuable workplace protections that we enjoy today are the result of EU legislation.
READ MORE: Architect of Scotland's school reforms calls for urgent halt amid fears of postcode lottery
“The Westminster government has already indicated that, post Brexit, they will be looking to rollback on some of the protections afforded to employees in the UK.
“This is a matter of huge concern, and we must do all that we can to resist financial concerns being put before the health and wellbeing of people at work.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel