Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that teachers are protected from physical harm by students at school.

No teacher should feel unsafe or face violence or abuse in the workplace. The government is clear all school employers, including trusts, have a duty to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their employees. The government has taken decisive action to improve pupils’ behaviour to ensure all schools are calm, safe, and supportive environments where pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.

The department supports head teachers in taking proportionate and measured steps to ensure good behaviour in schools. To support schools in doing so, the department has strengthened the behaviour in schools guidance, the primary source of help and support for schools on developing and implementing a behaviour policy that can create a school culture which has high expectations of all pupils. This guidance outlines effective strategies that will encourage good behaviour and the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour. The government also backs head teachers to use exclusions when required, as a last resort. This includes using permanent exclusion when allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school.

The government has no plans to introduce self-defence training for teachers. The National Professional Qualification (NPQ) in Leading Behaviour and Culture is relevant for teachers, leaders and non-teaching staff who want to develop their understanding of contemporary practice and research around promoting and supporting positive behaviour. £184 million has been invested into providing fully-funded NPQs for teaching staff across the country to deliver 150,000 NPQs up until the 2023/24 academic year.

The government is providing £10 million of funding for the Behaviour Hubs programmes to enable schools and multi-academy trusts with exemplary behaviour cultures and practices to work in partnership with those that want to improve their behaviour culture.