Teachers must be able to do their jobs without fear of verbal or physical abuse.

Deputy Education Minister Nicol Stephen

The figures for the school year 2001-2001 were contained in the Scottish Executive education department's annual survey on incidents of violence.

The survey recorded almost 1500 more incidents than in the previous year.

The total number of violent incidents against local authority school staff which were reported was 4,501.

Two-thirds of the incidents reported involved teaching staff. Of these, 3% were incidents which involved both teaching and non-teaching staff.

The report said 98% of incidents occurred in school hours, with 48% taking place in the classroom.

Classroom violence was split evenly between primary and secondary levels.

Verbal abuse

In total, 278 working days were lost by school staff as a direct result of the violence which has increased from the 3,083 incidents reported in 1999-2000.

Two-thirds of the violence reported was physical and of these, 36% also involved verbal abuse.

Verbal abuse alone made up the majority of the remainder with damage to personal property taking place in under 1% of the incidents.

Annual figures collected since 1998 show a continued rise in acts of violence against school staff.

Teachers may be reporting incidents more frequently

The Scottish Executive said the increase is at least partly due to improved reporting procedures and greater awareness of the issues; teachers are also more willing to report violence in the classroom.

But Deputy Education Minister Nicol Stephen said there was no excuse for violent behaviour towards staff or pupils in Scotland's schools.

"Teachers must be able to do their jobs without fear of verbal or physical abuse. The figures published today reinforce my concern about the problems that teachers face in schools and my determination to tackle them.

"We will do everything we can to ensure that those who work and learn in schools do so in an atmosphere free of violence and intimidation."

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities' education spokeswoman Helen Law said one of the main reasons for the increase was because much work had been done by councils to ensure incidents were reported.

She said: "It is absolutely vital that all incidents in schools are now recorded with most councils working towards new reporting systems and clear avenues of support for victims if, and when, required."