'Terrifying' rise in number of Scottish pupils using dangerous weapons in schools

Newly-released data shows there were 194 recorded crime cases involving Police Scotland where an offensive weapon was “used” in schools in the past three years.

It represented a 76 per cent rise on the 110 such incidents in the three years immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic.

There has also been an increase in the number of police incidents involving a bladed or pointed article being “used” in school when the three-year periods are compared, up from 84 to 99.

When the two categories of recorded crime are combined, there were 293 incidents of weapons being used in schools between 2021/22 and 2023/24 - an increase of 51 per cent compared to the 194 between 2017/18 and 2019/20.

Hundreds of further incidents involved pupils being in possession of offensive weapons or bladed articles that were “not used”, although the combined totals for these categories fell slightly when the two three-year periods are compared, from 434 recorded crimes to 409.

The figures were revealed in a response from Justice Secretary Angela Constance to a parliamentary question from Scottish Conservative education spokesman Miles Briggs.

They have emerged ahead of the 10th anniversary of the death of 16-year-old Aberdeen schoolboy Bailey Gwynne, who was stabbed to death by a fellow pupil during a fight at Cults Academy on October 28, 2015.

Mr Briggs said: “The huge rise in pupils using dangerous weapons highlights a terrifying collapse of discipline in Scotland’s schools under the SNP.

“Pupils, parents, councils and teaching unions have been warning for years about the rising tide of classroom violence. We’ve had plenty of hand-wringing and warm words from the SNP, but precious little action to tackle this growing problem.

“Just this week, we learned that teachers at a school in East Dunbartonshire are to take industrial action because they say pupils face no consequences for violent and abusive behaviour.

“Ministers need to get a grip on this crisis now and bring some common sense back to the classroom, so that pupils, teachers and support staff can feel safe in schools. That includes taking a zero-tolerance approach to weapons carrying, introducing education programmes and reducing the huge waiting times for child and adolescent mental-health referrals.

“Almost a decade on from the horrific death of Bailey Gwynne, it’s essential that all possible steps are taken to minimise the chances of such a tragedy ever being repeated.”

Earlier this week, staff at Kirkintilloch High School in East Dunbartonshire vowed to take industrial action over the failure of management to address the worsening behaviour of pupils.

Teachers said they regularly faced swearing and violence, while pupils were allowed to "roam around" corridors when they should be in class.

Concerns about behaviour in schools have been growing since the Covid-19 pandemic, with a deterioration confirmed in a Scottish Government-commissioned study, the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR). The study found more than one in ten primary school support staff said they had encountered use of weapons in incidents between pupils in the classroom in the last week.

Use of weapons in the last week was also reported by 6 per cent of primary and secondary teachers, up from below 1 per cent previously.

A long-awaited action plan to address school violence was finally published by SNP ministers in August last year, after a series of summits which discussed issues such as a confusion over exclusions policy and a lack of standardised reporting of incidents. However, critics have continued to argue the issue is not being taken as seriously as it should.

A spokesperson for Scotland’s largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), said: "The EIS continues to campaign vigorously for additional resources for education to help address the growing levels of violence and aggression in our schools.

“Clearly there is no justification for a pupil ever to bring a weapon into school. School discipline policies are in place, which highlight that bringing any type of weapon to school is completely unacceptable and carries serious consequences, including school exclusion, and police involvement where necessary.

“Many incidents of weapon-carrying are cases of foolish bravado, where pupils are seeking to impress or intimidate others, but they are nonetheless a significant threat to the health and safety of school staff and pupils, as current statistics attest.

“In order to prevent violent and aggressive behaviour of any kind, it is important that the requisite conditions, including staffing and other resources, for building and maintaining positive relationships, are in place in our schools.

“Successive cuts to education budgets, as well as cuts to teacher numbers and professional support services, have reduced the amount of specialist support available for young people, for example, from educational psychologists and behaviour support specialists.

“It is important that the Scottish Government and local authorities invest significantly more in education to ensure all pupils have access to appropriate support, which would go some way to lowering the risk of resort to violence and of harm and injury to school staff and students.”

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland said: “One weapon in a school is too many. We remain committed to working with partners, focusing on early intervention and prevention activity, to support and educate young people about the risks and consequences associated with such crimes.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "Weapons should never be in our schools, and that is why we are working hard to clamp down on the carrying of weapons.

“The number of recorded incidents of handling offensive weapons in schools in 2023-24 is down on the previous year and this is progress we are determined to build on. That’s why we’ve invested more than £4 million over the past two years to deliver the actions in the Violence Prevention Framework, including addressing youth violence, the carrying of weapons and violence in and around schools.

“Violence and abusive behaviour towards pupils or staff is completely unacceptable. In August, the Scottish Government published a joint action plan with COSLA, setting out a range of meaningful actions that will be taken at a national and local level over the next three years to respond to concerns parents, pupils and teachers have about misbehaviour in schools, including violence.”