Suspensions and permanent exclusions from school resulting from physical assaults on adults have surged in the past four years, according to .
The number of assaults on adults - largely, if not exclusively, against teachers - recorded as leading to suspension has more than doubled since the Covid-affected year of 2020-21 (up by 158 per cent), reaching 62,897 in 2023-24.
And large rises have continued since the Covid years: there was a year-on-year increase of around a fifth (20.4 per cent) from 2022-23 to 2023-24.
While the number of physical assaults on adults leading to permanent exclusions is lower, it has more than tripled since 2020-21. This reached 1,860 in 2023-24, up by 227 per cent compared with 2020-21. Again, the figure was up by around a fifth (21.5 per cent) on 2022-23.
Suspensions due to verbal abuse or threatening behaviour against an adult have also risen sharply to 174,063, up 146 per cent on 2020-21 and 17 per cent on 2022-23.
Assaults against teachers
Mark Lehain, executive headteacher at Wootton Academy Trust, described the figures are “sad but not surprising”.
The former government adviser said: “The good news is that we know better than ever how to systematically support students to be their best, have clear expectations which we explicitly teach...that are calmly and consistently upheld.
“Things are tough right now, but I’m optimistic that we will do even better as a sector over time.”
The recently published data also shows that suspensions and exclusions reached record highs in England’s state schools in 2023-24. Since 2020-21, schools have been able to record multiple reasons for a single suspension or permanent exclusion.
The number of suspensions neared 1 million for the first time (954,952) in 2023-24, up 21 per cent on the previous year (786,961), while permanent exclusions crossed the 10,000 threshold for the first time (10,885), up 16.1 per cent on 2022-23.
Students ‘feel they have the right’
Tom Bennett, a former government behaviour adviser, believes there are two reasons for the increases.
“Firstly, a rise in abusive behaviour in schools by students who feel that they have the right to do so, which usually reflects broader social problems in society,” he said.
“Secondly, an increase in confidence by school leaders to tackle that abuse, not to tolerate it, and to insist that school cultures are safe, calm and dignified.”
Mr Bennett, who has applied for the government’s new position of attendance and behaviour ambassador - for which the DfE missed its own appointment deadline - added: “School leaders were, for too long, stigmatised and shamed for suspending and excluding, which led to many schools being far more chaotic than they should have been.”
He added: “I would like to express solidarity and gratitude to every school leader and teacher who holds the line and demonstrates love to their communities by keeping them safe…I’m grateful to them for making hard but right choices.”
Rise in racism and abuse
The DfE figures also show concerning increases in incidents of racism, sexual misconduct, bullying and abuse related to “sexual orientation and gender identity”.
Incidents of racist abuse leading to suspension, for example, increased more than 30 per cent year-on-year, reaching 15,191.
Persistent disruptive behaviour remained the dominant reason for suspensions (569,921) and permanent exclusions (5,833).
Incidents of assaults, verbal abuse or threatening behaviour against a pupil that led to suspension or exclusion also increased significantly over the period.
Jarlath O’Brien, director of school improvement at Solent Academies Trust, said that the data was “very troubling”, and he voiced his concern about the over-representation of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
For pupils with an education, health and care plan, suspensions crossed the 100,000 barrier for the first time (101,381) in 2023-24, while they hit 330,908 for pupils receiving SEND support.
Mr O’Brien raised several concerns, including while there is guidance, there is no universal threshold for suspensions or exclusions.
“Each difficult decision to suspend or permanently exclude is made by a human being…What we can’t infer from the statistics is if the tolerance for suspension or permanent exclusion is, in some cases, lower than it used to be,” he said.
He also questioned whether measures that schools could have deployed in the past following an incident, such as pastoral support, may have been eroded due to budget cuts.
And, given the in England, Mr O’Brien asked: “What is happening that is resulting in schools seeing a rapid rise in the rates of violence by children?”
‘Deeply worrying’ behaviour
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the increases in “reprehensible” physical and verbal abuse against teachers were “deeply worrying” and sometimes led to people leaving the profession.
He said there is a need to “get to grips with the underlying causes of this behaviour”.
Mr Di’Iasio added that underfunded schools are “picking up the pieces” of wider societal problems, and said turning this around will require specialist support and additional resources.
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