Shock figures from the Department of Education reveal that there were over sixteen and half thousand cases of assault or verbal abuse against adults in London schools in the school year 2009/10. Commenting on the figures and the DoE advice on “Use of Reasonable Force”, giant trade union GMB said it is against teachers being able to “whack” pupils, saying that schools need to find a way to stop the attacks.

Schools in England excluded pupils in 156,320 cases of physical assault or verbal abuse against an adult in the school year 2009/10. Of those a massive 16.5 thousand were in London alone.

A new analysis of recent figures from the Department for Education by GMB, the union for school support staff, shows that there were 156,320 cases of physical assault or verbal abuse by pupils against adults in schools in England which led to the exclusion of the pupils for the school in 2009/10. This analysis coincides with the publication today by Department for Education of advice on the “Use of Reasonable Force” in schools, which the GMB says is approaching the problem the wrong way. The union says schools should try to stop assaults rather than allow adults to “whack pupils”.

The schools covered were state funded secondary, primary and special schools. The exclusions cover temporary suspensions and those permanently expelled. The figures do not include numbers for assaults and abuse of other pupils

In schools in the South East Region 28,320 pupils were excluded for physical assault and verbal abuse against an adult in 2009/10. Next were schools in North West Region with 21,380 cases, followed by 19,890 cases in schools Yorkshire and the Humber, 17,810 cases in schools in West Midlands and 16,790 cases in schools in Eastern. The figures for assaults and abuse by pupils against adults in schools in all 9 regions in England are set out in the table below.

Sharon Holder GMB National Officers for school support staff said, “These figures for levels of physical assaults and verbal abuse by pupils against adults are appalling and completely unacceptable.

School support staffs are attacked as often as teachers. Staff should not fear going into work worrying whether they will get bitten or kicked or verbally abused by pupils.

Society can’t expect paid teaching assistants and midday supervisors to cope indefinitely with this appalling level of violence and abuse. Parents have to accept their responsibilities for tackling the bad behavior by their children.  Government and Head teachers must do more to support frontline staff – especially the many educational assistants who are currently over-exposed and under-resourced.

GMB is seeking talks with the Department of Education and North West Education Authorities to get them to come forward with proposals to reduce these appalling levels of assaults and abuse.

The advice on “Use of Reasonable Force” published today by the Department for Education is approaching the problem the wrong way. Schools should try to stop assaults rather than allowing adults whacking the pupils during attacks.

Training in behaviour management and bespoke restraint training is essential. Additional staff may be needed in the most acute areas and where necessary protective equipment. GMB members report that all forms of training is falling due to constraints on funding and release time.

When faced with false allegations teachers have anonymity protection but this does not apply to other classroom staff. This protection should apply equally to support staff, who are just as vulnerable as teachers to false allegations. It is palpably unfair to expect support staff to exercise new powers around pupil searches but only to give protection to teachers.”

Just a few months later, but this time at the Louvre in the exhibition, ‘Leonardo da Vinci’s St Anne’, Leonardo’s newly cleaned and restored ‘The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne’ will be joined with the National Gallery’s version, The Burlington House Cartoon – Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and John the Baptist, from 29 March – 25 June 2012.

These two exhibitions will illuminate the painting career of Leonardo da Vinci as never before, providing an unprecedented and unique chance to examine and study these related works in their artistic contexts. This collaboration between the two institutions has taken into consideration the serious scholarly ambitions of each exhibition and the research opportunities they provide. The Louvre and the National Gallery also believe that these comparisons will be of exceptional interest to a wide public. All these factors have persuaded both galleries to lend their precious masterpieces for the first time, in the expectation that no such exhibitions will be held again.

Director of the National Gallery, Dr Nicholas Penny, “We are delighted and very grateful to our colleagues at the Louvre for the loan of this celebrated painting. It is part of an extraordinary collaboration between the National Gallery and the Department of Paintings at the Louvre. I am quite sure that the experience of seeing these masterpieces juxtaposed will be one that none of us will ever forget or that will ever be repeated. I am delighted that such a rich context for these comparisons will be provided at each venue.”

Director of Louvre Henri Loyrette, “This exceptional collaboration between the National Gallery, London and the Louvre achieves two historical juxtapositions long desired by generations of art historians and which are certain to offer a source of considerable fascination for today’s museum visitors as well: Leonardo da Vinci’s two well-known versions of the Virgin of the Rocks and of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. As complementary as our two collections are, a continuation of this exchange would be invaluable and beautifully fruitful.”

The Virgin of the Rocks. The Paris version on the left and the London version on the right. Click on image for larger pic.