The secretary of Fife’s EIS branch says that education is broken in Scotland, and the situation will only worsen if it is not addressed urgently.

After the Education Institute of Scotland’s Fife branch (EIS) released a series of findings showing the ‘alarming’ levels of violence and aggression in the area’s schools, the secretary has been speaking exclusively to The Herald.

Around 94% of teachers who took part in a survey said they had been involved in violent and abusive incidents over the last four years, and 61% had been physically assaulted in the same time period.

The survey also showed violent and aggressive incidents were a daily occurrence in 48% of schools in Fife, and 69% of teachers are now in favour of strike action being taken over the “unacceptable” behaviour.

Now, the branch secretary Jane McKeown has revealed that these incidents are most prevalent in younger pupils in early education but it “sadly” all comes down to underfunding at every level, meaning that the needs of pupils cannot be met, and teachers and children are suffering for it.

Ms McKeown said: “The majority of the physical violence occurs in primary schools and in our early year settings as young as nursery.

“That can be anything from fighting, spitting, punching, scratching, hair pulling to throwing things, throwing chairs, tables, or ripping things off the walls. It can be really extreme violence, and we’ve had members with really bad bruising and even lacerations.”

“It’s particularly lots of children with unmet additional support needs (ASN). They are lashing out at the nearest adult which happens to be their classroom teacher or some of the support assistants.”

Earlier this year, new figures revealed that between 2013 and 2023 the number of ASN teachers had fallen from 3,290 to 2,898, representing a cut of 11.9 per cent. However, the number of children with additional support needs had nearly doubled in the same time frame. In 2023, there were a record 259,036 ASN pupils, equivalent to 36.7% of the school roll, who are all spending the majority of their time in mainstream classes. That compares to the 131,593 ASN pupils in 2013.

The recent survey also revealed that 81% of teachers who responded to the survey have suffered from poor mental health and wellbeing due to the current situation.

Ms McKeon added: “I was in a school a couple of weeks ago. I was asked to go in because they were at the end of their tether and were worried about the levels of violence and aggression in the school.

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“Over half of the people in the room, including the senior leadership, had broken down in tears within the hour because of the levels of stress and the levels of abuse they were experiencing.”

“A lot of teachers feel they’re unable to keep some of the other children safe, and this violence must be having an impact on those children. Seeing their teachers physically attacked, and their work ripped off the walls is traumatic.”

The situation is now at a point where almost two-thirds of teachers in Fife are considering leaving the profession if the conditions and support do not improve.

EIS Fife’s publicity officer, Graeme Keir, previously called out the Scottish Government for having the resources to put things right but failing to do so despite acknowledging the problem.

EIS, which represents over 80% of teaching professionals in the country has said the problem of violence in schools is not unique to Fife. In April this year, new data showed violent incidents in Scotland’s schools had soared by 53% between 2019 and 2023.

A plan to carry out a Scotland-wide survey is in development which will paint a bigger picture of the situation on a national level.

Ms McKeown believes that education in the country is at a breaking point and the government needs to prioritise spending on it to avoid further problems down the line.

The branch secretary said they have been working closely with Fife Council to tackle the problem but acknowledged budget constraints are making life difficult at a local government level.

She said: “The number of children with recognised needs is rising and has risen over a number of years, but the provisions are not keeping up with those needs.

“Whether that is specialist places in specialist schools, or in Fife our additional support classes, DAS units in secondaries, or in-class support from Pupil Support Assistants.

“All the resources, there is just not enough, and it is sadly all down to money.

She added: “I honestly believe that education is broken in Scotland.”

“I do [think there needs to be accountability]. The Scottish Government itself has choices, and those choices can be and should made. To my mind, if you spend on education early, you will save later because you will be reducing criminality, and you will have more well-rounded human beings.

“If we’re getting traumatised children in our classrooms because of the violence they are seeing, this can only lead to more mental health issues in the future. By ignoring it, we are just building further problems for later.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is investing record levels in the education system, with the Education and Skills budget growing to over £4.8 billion for 2024-25.

“Despite the challenging financial climate we have also committed an additional £29 million for the latest teacher pay deal and are offering local authorities £145.5 million to protect teacher numbers.

“In August, we published a joint action plan with COSLA, setting out a thorough range of actions that will be taken at a national and local level over the next three years to respond to concerns about relationships and behaviour in schools, including violence.”