Why epidemic of school violence in Scotland is gift to Nigel Farage's Reform party

Not only was this written in proper, sensible English rather than the education burble of recent reports commissioned by the Scottish Government, but it was written by a high-level committee which actually included some current and former head teachers and deputies.

It reflected the views of experienced educationalists across a range of political views, including Professor Lindsay Paterson and Bruce Robertson, the former head of Berwickshire High School who is currently a very dynamic force in Scottish and international education, and was chaired by Keir Bloomer, a former director of education in Clackmannanshire and a wise old hand.

The gist of what it said is summed up by the quote on the front cover: “All young people have a right to education. This must not be compromised by the behaviour of others.”

READ MORE: Scottish teachers launch industrial action after being 'blamed and gaslit' over pupil violence

Scant interest from ministers

You know, isn’t that just common sense? You can’t learn if some child – for whatever reason – is throwing another tantrum, and you can’t learn if two frightening big boys are having a fight beside you, and you can’t learn if your teacher is off with stress.

And yet, these are things that are happening every day in most Scottish schools. To date, the Scottish Government has shown scant interest in addressing this, the greatest handicap to our young people achieving their potential in our schools, and, I am in no doubt, a large part of the reason why the poverty-related academic attainment gap shows no sign of closing.

Oh yes, the Scottish Government did produce its own report earlier in the year, but its title “Fostering a positive, inclusive and safe school environment” gave the game away. It suggested, among other things, that young people who are aggressive or violent should be given laminated cards to look at before they kick the boy who is annoying them, in the hope that some pieties inscribed on them will give them pause for thought.

Jenny Gilruth, the current Education Secretary, and the agencies that advise her, give new meaning to the expression ‘pie in the sky’. They are running an enormous pie shop a zillion miles away from the realities of schools from Buckie to the Borders.

Shocking levels of violence

Here are some facts: a survey conducted this year by the teaching union the NASUWT showed that 44 per cent of those responding had experienced physical abuse or violence and 90 per cent had been verbally abused in 2024-25. In another survey, 43 per cent of teachers surveyed had encountered physical violence between pupils in the week leading up to the survey.

No wonder absence due to stress is high among Scottish teachers; no wonder some kids feel so afraid they won’t go to school. In 25 years of classroom teaching in the independent sector as a skinny, scaredy-cat of a teacher, I broke up a violent incident once. It was in the lunch hall and I stopped it by jumping on the back of a big strong chap who was hammering another guy – reasonably justifiably it turned out – and saying “it’s Mr Wyllie, Tommy, please don’t hurt me”.

So the Commission on School Reform is saying, really, what everyone knows. One of its conclusions, stated very modestly is “indiscipline has contributed to Scotland’s decline in international comparisons of educational standards” and, among its recommendations it states the obvious – which is that the current pressure on head teachers not to suspend or exclude violent pupils should be removed.

If Johnny attacks Jimmy, then send him home! It doesn’t matter what trauma Johnny has gone through – he can, of course, be sympathetically counselled; he can, of course, receive medical input. But if he doesn’t recognise that actions have consequences, he’ll end up in the jail. My gran could have told you that!

Political bravery required

We’re not that far away from a Holyrood election, which, at the moment, is mostly about independence. No doubt, as the time approaches, discussion will shift on to the rather more germane issue of how the country is currently being governed by the SNP. I’ve been trying to get some hint of how our various political parties will deal with education in their manifestos.

Of course, all of them should be incorporating the advice from this report, because these educational issues are really beyond left/right arguments. Surely the greenest Green, the most liberal Liberal and the most reactionary Conservative would agree that teachers deserve to have calm environments to teach in; and that the ‘presumption of mainstreaming’, which has led to so many young people being placed in unsuitable educational environments, has been a terrible blight on our schools.

Ah but… I fear that the sound judgment and common sense of the report may fall on deaf ears in the mainstream parties. And I’m just guessing that Reform UK in Scotland, which it would seem currently has very few thought-through policies about anything, may pick it up and run with it, representing as the report does a return to some apparently rather old-fashioned educational ideas: that schools thrive through an admixture of regulation and kindness, hard work and individual attention, and that the current lawlessness which exists in some schools – despite the valiant efforts of teachers and heads – simply cannot continue.

Other political parties now need to be brave, and think about the needs of the nation’s teachers, pupils and parents, lest they shed yet more votes to the political right.

Cameron Wyllie is a former head teacher. He writes a blog called A House in Joppa and is the author of a book called Is There A Pigeon in the Room? My Life in Schools