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[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Teachers forced out by pupils[/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]
[/font][font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Matthew Taylor, education correspondent
[/font][font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Wednesday March 23, 2005
[/font][font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]
Guardian
[/font][font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Teachers are facing increasing levels of violence and abuse in the classroom, driving almost three-quarters to consider leaving the profession, according to a survey published yesterday. [/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]One teacher said she had had to disarm a pupil carrying a loaded gun and described teenagers who were too listless to teach after taking horse tranquillisers at the weekend. [/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]The Association of Teachers and Lecturers survey of 300 secondary school staff found that 46% of respondents said they had suffered from mental health problems because of abusive pupils, with one in seven claiming to have been physically assaulted. [/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Speaking at the union’s annual conference in Torquay, Elizabeth Greed, who teaches English and religious education at a secondary school in Wiltshire, said pupils were taking ketamine – a powerful anaesthetic used in human and horse surgery – as a recreational drug. [/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]According to a survey by the dance magazine MixMag, use of the drug, which has been popular on the club scene since the early 1990s, has increased fourfold since 2000. [/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]But Mrs Greed said drug use was just one element in poor pupil behaviour: “There is simply no respect for teachers or other professionals any more. I find I spend a lot of my time supporting colleagues who simply cannot cope.” [/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Another teacher said she had seen members of staff being threatened, locked out of classrooms, spat at and physically assaulted. [/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Earlier, delegates voted unanimously to oppose the government’s scheme to replace failing inner city schools with privately backed academies. [/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]They said it was a “Trojan horse” which could lead to the end of the state education system and joined MPs and unions calling on the government to halt the programme until it has been properly evaluated. [/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]However, ministers insist it is too early to judge the schools. Last night a spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: “Academies cannot charge fees or go private, now or in the future. It is ruled out by primary legislation.”[/font]
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005[/font]
