Violence in Schools: Individual Courage Is Not Enough

Violence in schools has reached what teachers are calling a behaviour emergency. In April 2025, the NASUWT - the UK's largest teaching union - declared a behaviour emergency.

The language was deliberate. Not a concern. Not a trend. An emergency.

The data behind that declaration, drawn from more than 5,800 teachers across the UK, makes difficult reading. In the past year, 40% of teachers experienced physical violence from pupils. 85% were subjected to verbal abuse. 20% had been hit or punched. 38% had been shoved or barged. More than one in twenty had been threatened with assault involving a weapon - and NASUWT estimates as many as 30,000 violent incidents against teachers involving a pupil with a weapon in the last twelve months alone.

Most troublingly: only 18% of teachers who reported a behaviour incident felt that appropriate action and support followed.

These figures describe a workforce that is absorbing significant violence and abuse, often without adequate support, and increasingly questioning whether they can sustain a career in teaching as a result. Half of the teachers surveyed were considering leaving the profession.

This is not a new problem. But it is getting worse.

Violence in schools is not a phenomenon that arrived suddenly. Teachers have always managed difficult situations, emotionally charged interactions, and occasional aggression from pupils, parents, and carers.

What has changed is the scale, the frequency, and the profile of the behaviour being reported.

Teaching unions, Ofsted, and the Department for Education all note a significant deterioration in behaviour in schools since the COVID-19 pandemic. The disruption to social and emotional development during those years, the pressures on mental health services, the increase in unmet need among children and young people, and the reduction in specialist provision have all contributed to classrooms that are, for many teachers, harder to manage than at any point in recent memory.

The consequences extend beyond the teacher who has been assaulted. They affect the entire classroom - the pupils who witness or are caught up in incidents, the learning time lost to disruption, and the broader school culture that shapes how safe everyone in the building feels.

What schools are legally required to do

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 places a clear duty on school employers - whether that is a local authority, a multi-academy trust, or a governing body - to protect staff from foreseeable risks, including violence and aggression.

That duty is practical, not symbolic. It requires risk assessments that identify where and when staff are most vulnerable, control measures that reduce those risks, clear reporting systems, and evidence that incidents are taken seriously and responded to appropriately.

Ofsted's inspection framework examines behaviour and culture explicitly. Inspectors look at how leaders create a safe and calm environment, how staff are supported to manage challenging behaviour, and whether the school's approach to behaviour is consistent, fair, and effective. A school where violence is frequent, underreported, and poorly managed is a school with a governance and leadership problem - not just a behaviour problem.

For school leaders, the question is not whether they care about staff safety. The question is whether the systems and support they have put in place are adequate to the level of risk their staff actually face.

Why individual resilience is not a strategy

The teachers who continue working in the most challenging schools, often after experiencing repeated assault or abuse, are remarkable people. Their commitment to their pupils and to the profession is genuine and admirable.

But individual resilience is not an organisational safety strategy.

When schools rely on the personal courage and commitment of individual teachers to absorb the consequences of inadequate preparation, they are not managing risk - they are transferring it. The staff member who does not leave after being assaulted is not evidence that the situation is acceptable. They are evidence of how deeply people who go into teaching care about the work.

That care does not reduce the legal or moral obligation to protect them.

NASUWT's data shows that teachers are asking, specifically, for behaviour-focused CPD and de-escalation training as part of the support they need. They are not asking for their schools to lower expectations of pupil behaviour. They are asking to be equipped to manage the reality they face.

That is a reasonable ask. And it is one that organisations have a duty to meet.

What good training for education settings looks like

The training that teachers and education support staff need is different from the training delivered to security teams or healthcare workers - not because the underlying principles are different, but because the context is.

Education staff are managing behaviour in environments where the relationship between staff and pupils is central to everything - where authority is built on trust and respect rather than enforcement, where the age and vulnerability of the people involved creates specific ethical and legal responsibilities, and where the goal is always to support learning and wellbeing rather than simply to manage risk.

Good conflict management and de-escalation training for education settings works within that context. It helps teachers recognise the early signs of distress and escalation in pupils - the behavioural indicators that a situation is developing before it becomes an incident. It gives staff practical communication skills that work under pressure, in corridors, in classrooms, and in difficult conversations with parents and carers. It builds the confidence to set clear boundaries while maintaining the professional and relational tone that effective teaching requires.

Where schools employ support staff who may face a higher level of physical risk - teaching assistants working with pupils with complex behavioural needs, staff in specialist units or alternative provision - training needs to go further. It needs to include the physical skills that allow staff to protect themselves and others safely, lawfully, and proportionately.

Stand2 has delivered conflict management and personal safety training to schools, colleges, universities, and specialist education providers across the UK for over 25 years. Our programmes are aligned with DfE guidance, KCSIE, and Ofsted's expectations around behaviour, culture, and staff development. They are built around the real situations education staff face - from the classroom to the school gate, from the reception desk to the corridor - and delivered by people with the professional credibility to make that training meaningful.

The measure of a safe school

A school where teachers feel unsafe is not a school where pupils learn well. The two are directly connected.

Violence and aggression in schools affects attendance, retention, and recruitment. It affects the culture of the institution. It affects the quality of relationships between staff and pupils, and between the school and its community. And it affects the people who come to work every day committed to making a difference and find themselves questioning whether they can continue to do so.

NASUWT's declaration of a behaviour emergency is a call for systemic action - from government, from school leaders, and from the organisations responsible for ensuring that the people who teach our children are safe while they do it.

Training is not the only answer. But it is one of the most direct and demonstrable steps a school can take to protect its staff, support their confidence and wellbeing, and demonstrate to Ofsted and to its own community that behaviour and safety are being taken seriously.

Individual courage is remarkable. It is not a substitute for preparation.

Stand2 delivers specialist conflict management, personal safety, and de-escalation training to schools, colleges, universities, and specialist education providers across the UK. Our programmes are AIM accredited, aligned with DfE guidance, KCSIE, and Ofsted expectations, and built around the specific challenges of educational environments. To find out more, visit our education sector page or get in touch.