City teachers suffer two attacks a week

During the last school year 98 incidents were reported to the education authority, ranging from teachers being hit by pupils to attacks resulting from staff trying to break up fights.

Some teachers were assaulted by parents, the figures show.

But the statistics also include non-physical attacks on staff such as serious verbal abuse.

Education chiefs said they were unable to say whether the problem was getting better or worse, but added that teachers were encouraged to report any incidents.

Figures obtained by The Star last summer revealed that 160 pupils had been excluded from class during the previous academic year for physically assaulting teachers - compared with just 18 in 2003.

Teaching unions in the city believe the situation may be worse than the bald statistics suggest, because some incidents are not logged.

A recent survey by the National Union of Teachers across city schools found that 10 per cent of secondary teachers had been assaulted at some point, the figure rising to 16 per cent in primary schools. More than half had been verbally abused.

A spokeswoman for the NUT said any attack was "completely unacceptable", but that they were still relatively rare.

"It's particularly galling when the attacks are being carried out by parents because they are the ones who should be helping with discipline and good behaviour among children," she added.

Executive director of children's services Jonathan Crossley-Holland said he did not believe Sheffield teachers were any more at risk than those in other cities. "We work extremely hard to make sure that staff and pupils are safe in our schools, and our teachers do an excellent job" he said.