Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of violent assaults against teachers in schools.

No teacher should feel unsafe or face violence or abuse in the workplace. The Government is clear that 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 and to ensure that 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 to do so, the Department has strengthened the Behaviour in Schools guidance, which is 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.

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.