This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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| Please note: All figures are provisional. |
| In some instances, the number of incidents reported was listed against more than one category, or some items were not recorded. The total number of incidents in the tables may, therefore, not be equal to the sum of its components. |
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| NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS |
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| 1. In June 1997, The Scottish Office issued a circular (No 5/97) to Local Authorities in Scotland, informing them of a formal requirement to report, record and monitor incidents of violence against school staff. In August 1998, The Government Statistical Service carried out a basic survey of Local Authorities, on behalf of The Scottish Office, to collect and collate this information. From circular 5/97, an incident of violence was defined as: |
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| 'any incident in which any employee of a school is seriously abused, is threatened or is assaulted by a pupil, parent, member of the public or any other persons in circumstances arising out of the course of his/her employment. This includes physical attack and threatening behaviour with or without a weapon, and intentional damage to personal property'. |
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| This reflects the fact that violence is not restricted to acts of aggression that may result in physical harm but incorporates behaviour, including the use of gestures and language, that may cause the victim to become afraid or feel threatened or abused. |
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| 2. It should be noted that: |
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- several Local Authorities (accounting for 20 per cent of all pupils in Scotland) were unable to supply the information requested for 1997-98. Given the absence of any historical data, no estimation was made for non-response in this instance. Only having data for one year, it is impossible to ascertain whether these results are typical, or whether they reflect a trend.
- in reporting the summary information for 1997-98, there was no requirement for Local Authorities to record separately those multiple incidents that involved the same perpetrator, or whether more than one member of staff was involved. Similarly, there may have been more than one perpetrator, such as two pupils fighting.
- where an incident was notified to the police, this does not imply that each incident was recorded as a crime by them.
- as with all such incidents, there is likely to be an element of under reporting within the figures, particularly with this being the first year that information has been formally collected. School staff may also have different responses to incidents, and despite the definition, what one member of staff may report as a violent incident, another may choose not to report.
- for information, The Scottish Office and partners are currently reviewing the information needs of the education system in this area and will shortly be considering the extension of the survey to collect more detailed information allowing more informed analysis.
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| 3. To preserve the confidentiality of the information supplied, no separate breakdowns of the 1997-98 results are available for individual Local Authorities. |
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| Elaine McQuillan 0131 244 2175 |
| 10 February 1999 |
| News Release 0290/99 |
| PREPARED BY THE GOVERNMENT STATISTICAL SERVICE |