Rennie: Government must pull out all the stops to tackle school violence

Speaking as the Scottish Parliament debates violence in classrooms, Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP has demanded that the Education Secretary “pull out all the stops” to end the crisis and give teachers and staff the support they need.

Mr Rennie first raised this issue in January when he asked the First Minister how the government was addressing classroom violence after social media footage emerged of one pupil assaulting another at a local school.  

Last week, Scottish Liberal Democrats subsequently revealed that there were nearly 15,000 reports of violence in schools during last year alone.  

At the Scottish Liberal Democrat spring conference, the party passed a motion which called on the government to give greater resources for schools and teachers to bring down rising cases of classroom violence.  

Mr Rennie said:  

“This disturbing epidemic of classroom violence is holding children back and traumatising staff.  

“Since returning after months of lockdown, staff are almost universally reporting sharp increase in behavioural problems among pupils, but the problems existed long before the pandemic.  

“Scotland’s political and educational leadership has been keeping astonishingly tight-lipped about all of this. The Education Secretary owes it to teachers, parents and pupils to pull out all the stops and formulate a clear path out of the crisis.  

“Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling for more dedicated resources inside and outside of school by investing in classroom assistants, education psychologists, specialist teachers and youth work.”