There is more than one attack on a teacher every day in Edinburgh

The number of assaults in the capital has risen dramatically from 185 in 2004 to 466 in 2005.

The figures, which were released under the freedom of information act, reveal staff have been bitten, punched, scratched and throttled by pupils.

The majority of the attacks were against nursery nurses, special school teachers and learning assistants.

But headteachers, janitors and even school cooks have all been assaulted.

There probably are children with more complex needs in mainstream schools now, but that is because we are identifying those complex needs more now Councillor Ewan Aitken Edinburgh's education leader

In 2005, 126 members of staff were bitten while at work. This is more than the total number of biting cases in 2001, 2002 and 2003 put together, when there were four, 47 and 20 assaults respectively.

An education department spokesman said: "The recent increase in assaults on teachers in Edinburgh schools is partly due to the greater awareness of policies in schools and promotion of reporting of such incidents."

Councillor Ewan Aitken, the city's education leader, denied children who would have previously attended special schools were now in mainstream education.

He said: "There probably are children with more complex needs in mainstream schools now, but that is because we are identifying those complex needs more now.

"If you look at our figures for children in special schools, the numbers have stayed the same."