Violence in schools ‘definitely more prevalent’

A Devon headteacher believes assaults on staff are becoming more prevalent but that the scale of the problem is likely to be under reported.

Christopher Tribble, the president of the Devon branch of the National Association of Head Teachers, said he had been assaulted during his 20-year career in the profession and knew of others too.
He said the problem was “multi-faceted”, but that contributing factors were online content, the aftermath of Covid, and increasingly stretched school resources that are trying to cope with an ever-increasing wave of demand.
“I get to speak to a lot of teachers in my NAHT role and I would say violence against school staff is more prevalent than ever,” Mr Tribble, who is the head at Honiton Primary School, said.
“And it isn’t only teachers but teaching staff; teachers get the headlines, but teaching assistants and learning support staff are right at the coalface.”
Figures from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) state 521 staff in the South West reported injuries from pupils in the past decade, including broken bones, cuts, bites and bruises.
But the growth has been stark in recent years, with 32 incidents reported in 2015/16 to 79 in 2024/25, with Devon accounting for 25 of the latter figure.
The HSE stressed the data related to the education sector as a whole, and that while most incidents had occurred in schools, mother education settings, such as nurseries, universities, sports instruction and driving schools were included.
Mr Tribble said he thought the number of injuries to school staff could “probably be 10 times, 20 times, or even more than that”, but he believed it was “massively under-reported”.
He added he felt the problem existed before Covid, but that it was “accelerated” by the pandemic fallout, but also blamed online content as being an issue.
“Online content isn’t giving children the role models they should have,” he said.
“There is an Americanism culture of clicks and likes, and what was largely termed grotesque previously now gets those clicks and likes, but it’s behaviour that we don’t want to see.
“Internet access is an accelerating factor.”
Mr Tribble also noted that Devon’s schools had been “losing out” in terms of their share of national education funding for about 20 years.
The county has long been part of the so-called F40 group of lowest-funded local authorities when it comes to education financing.
Mr Tribble estimated that some London schools could be getting around half as much again per pupil compared to Devon’s schools.
The Honiton headteacher added that increasing demand on schools was putting strain on their limited resources.
Some of that demand comes from the rising number of pupils with additional needs.
But Mr Tribble stated that rising demand and school violence should not be conflated.
“Some children have special educational needs, but you have to distinguish that from behaviour choices,” he said.
“Sometimes children with SEND will become dysregulated and hit out, but that is often different to behavioural choices, and some violence against staff is choice.”