Last week I wrote to the Herald complaining that they had got into the habit of printing a Tory 'report' resulting from a Freedom of Information request just about every Monday. The reports give no context to the information, are highly selective and always use 'big numbers' to encourage readers to think education, the NHS and the police and other emergency services are on the brink of collapse in Scotland.
They didn't print my letter - of course - but they have today printed another attack on public services on their front page (bottom left) and in some ways it's even worse than the usual nonsense: 'Children attacking teachers' claims there were 'a number of violent assaults' on teachers by children as young as 7 and that the number of violent assaults has 'rocketed by more than 50% in 12 months.' Police 'were called into schools dozens of times to deal with violent incidents involving out-of-control children, while hundreds of teachers were left with injuries after being assaulted by pupils.'
No context is given for for these claims. Where did the incidents happen? Who was involved? I used to assume kids would be (as in my teaching days) scrapping in the playground but that simply doesn't happen any more. Primary staff have done a good job on the 'we don't hit, we talk' approach. Violence in schools is more and more a rarity. No sources are quoted in the article. More FoI requests? More 'reports' from Tory MSPs? No figures are given except the ones I've quoted above. So we don't know if the 'attacks' number in the thousands or the hundreds or the dozens or in penny numbers.
It's worth making a few points:
- At any given time, and here I'm quoting Bill MacGregor, one-time leader of the Headteachers Association in Scotland - and no push-over as a headteacher when it came to dealing with troubled children: at any given time, the overwhelming majority of pupils and teachers are in school doing what they're supposed to do: learning and teaching.
- In addition, quite a few secondary schools have a 'campus police officer' known to the kids and any incidents would be dealt with unless they were very serious by him (or her). The police would not need to be 'called in,' like this was some episode of Law & Order. Schools have access to educational psychologists and social workers. Some local authorities operate a team system where vulnerable children are the joint responsibility of all agencies as well as their families. Is something going wrong here with our care for children? Can we fix it? We'll never know, because the Herald's stance is to blame, not to protect or improve.
- Sometimes children, especially those with special educational needs or mental health or behavioural issues, have a melt-down and are temporarily 'out-of-control.' One problem with teachers and classroom assistants is that, dammit, they are very understanding and, once the meltdown is over, they don't want to stir things up by reporting the incident, since that would lead to case meetings, safety assessments and possibly repercussions for the kids. Staff certainly won't be rushing to report incidents if they think they and their kids are going to get a mention on the front page of the Herald.
I plan to cancel my order for the Herald quite soon, but I worry that there aren't many people left to challenge their Unionist codswallop, their distortions of the truth, selective use of facts and willingness to undermine the confidence of the public in public services, where staff are doing their very best to keep going with sometimes lousy pay, job cuts, and constant pressure to keep up standards and meet targets with reduced funding.
I'm not saying my letter last week rattled the Herald enough to give up printing the Tory FoI nonsense - although I'd love to think it did. I'm just sorry I haven't been able to alter their mindset that somehow kids in education are the enemy, the management of the police service and the NHS is a disgrace, and it's all the fault of the Scottish government. (No, I'm a Green, not SNP).
We undermine our public services at our peril: demoralised nurses, teachers, EMTs and the rest perform less well than people who are respected and trusted.
I don't know why this is spaced like this. FFS.
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