More than 100 incidents of violence against staff in Scottish pre-school centres were reported in the year 2000-2001, according to figures released last week by the Scottish Executive's Education Department. This represented 2 per cent of all incidents in schools, with the highest proportion of attacks taking place in primary schools. Two-thirds of the total of 4,501 incidents involved physical violence, with 36 per cent of these involving verbal abuse. The other category reported was damage to personal property. Deputy Education Minister Nicol Stevenson told a meeting organised by the Anti-bullying Network and the Scottish Ethos Network, 'The figures published today reinforce my concern about the problems that teachers face in schools.' Local authorities began reporting and monitoring violent incidents in Scottish schools in 1997, while this process started in autumn 1999 in pre-schools.
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