VIOLENT attacks on teachers and staff at Island schools have surged 500% in three years, with 18 school employees having to attend the Emergency Department after being assaulted at work in 2024 alone.
Data released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that there were 120 incidents of violence and aggression against school staff in 2024, 147 in 2023 and 146 in 2022. Since 2021, 55 staff members have had to attend the Emergency Department after being attacked.
In 2021, there were only 20 recorded incidents, amounting to a 500% increase in 2024.
In its response to the request, the government stressed that the assaults were on all staff at schools rather than just teachers, and declined to break the figures down further. The JEP has asked the Education Department for a breakdown of the statistics per school.
It also revealed that between 2018 and 2024, 34 students were excluded from school for using an offensive weapon or threatening to use one.
In a statement, Education Minister Deputy Rob Ward said: “This data demonstrates a greater transparency in the reporting of incidents that are now recorded as assaults at all levels, which I welcome.
“I am concerned by any assault in schools and support the zero-tolerance approach that the government adheres to.
“These figures reflect the growing challenges that teachers and staff face, and I am committed to continuing the ongoing work to support them with the challenges they experience.”
A 2022 survey in Jersey revealed that 50% of Island teachers reported being verbally abused by pupils, and 22% had been threatened with physical harm.
Speaking to the JEP this week, one former teacher at an Island school said that teachers are assaulted “on a regular basis”.
Despite any protocol that schools say that they follow within the safeguarding policy, 99% of the time, when a staff member reports an assault by a pupil, senior leadership shrug it off and expect you to get on with the rest of your day
A teacher who wished to remain anonymous
“Despite any protocol that schools say that they follow within the safeguarding policy, 99% of the time, when a staff member reports an assault by a pupil, senior leadership shrug it off and expect you to get on with the rest of your day,” the teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
“I have seen a teacher walk around a school building with visible bite marks on their arm from a young child, simply getting on with their day as if to say ‘this is normal’.”
Another teacher currently employed at an Island school told the JEP that while they personally had not been assaulted by a student, they knew others who had.
“I think violence is more tolerated these days and is excused with a diagnosis or autism or PDA or the like. I think this is reflected in the framework above that it’s normalised,” the teacher said.
The teacher added that staff job descriptions had recently been updated by teaching assistants to warn that they could be hit, kicked, bit, or spat at in the course of their work.
Deputy Ward refused to comment on whether descriptions had been changed.
“There is an ongoing consultation with staff on the teaching assistant framework and it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment while in consultation,” he said.
The JEP reported last Tuesday that an increasing number of teachers at Island schools were quitting their jobs and leaving Jersey.
Data released under the FoI Act revealed that 20 primary school teachers and 22 secondary school teachers resigned in 2024, substantially more than the year earlier and three times as many as in 2022.
The resignations came in a year that saw a long-running pay dispute between the government and teachers which brought schools to a standstill in a series of strikes.
If you are a teacher and you want to speak anonymously then email ocrowcroft@jerseyeveningpost.com.
