By Bill Heaney
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today questioned the First Minister about shocking rates of school violence as new research by his party revealed that there have been over 24,000 violent incidents reported in schools already in the current school year.
Scottish Liberal Democrats asked every local authority how many violent incidents have been reported in primary and secondary schools. Of the 30 councils which replied, the new figures show:
- There have been 24,387 violent incidents reported in this school year so far;
- There were a record-breaking 40,382 violent incidents reported last year (2023/24).
The Scottish Government launched its Relationships and Behaviour in Schools National Action Plan 2024-2027 at the start of this school year.
“It isn’t just a drama, it’s happening here and now in Scotland too.
“Last summer, the Scottish Government published a new action plan. It aimed to make pupils and staff feel safe and supported.
“However, my party is publishing new research today that shows there have been over 24,000 violent incidents reported in schools in the months since the action plan was revealed.
“Incident for incident, it’s matching the trajectory of the record-breaking 40,000 reports of school violence recorded last year.
“Pupils shouldn’t be going to school afraid. Teachers deserve to know this government has their back.
“So does the First Minister think that pupils and staff feel any safer or more supported, and what further practical actions will be taken to combat violence in schools?”
Adolescence creators want show aired in Parliament
Jamie, the young suspect, is played by newcomer Owen Cooper, from Warrington, with Stephen Graham as his dad
The creators of the Netflix drama Adolescence have said they want the programme to be a piece of work that “causes discussion and makes change”.
Writer Jack Thorne said he and co-writer Stephen Graham, who is also starring in the drama, wanted to explore the problem of young male rage and what fuels it after seeing several incidents of violence in the news.
“I want it to be shown in schools, I want it to be shown in Parliament. It’s crucial because this is only going to get worse.
“It’s something that people need to be talking about, hopefully that’s what drama can do,” Thorne said.
The story shines a light on the corrosive impact of social media and misogynist influencers on some teenage boys
The show follows the Miller family, whose lives are blown apart when 13-year-old schoolboy Jamie is arrested for killing a female classmate.
The four-part series has become the most-streamed title in both the UK and the US within the first week of its release.
Its story shines a light on the corrosive impact of social media and misogynist influencers on some teenage boys.
Thorne said he had to look in some “dark holes” on the internet to make the show, but said those holes were not hard to find.
“This is a show about a kid who does the wrong thing and causes great harm. To understand him, we have to understand the pressures upon him,” he said.
“Jamie has been polluted by ideas that he’s heard online, that make sense to him, that have a logic that’s attractive to him, that answer the questions as to his loneliness and isolation and lead him to make some very bad choices.
“We have to understand the things he’s been consuming and that means especially looking at the internet, the manosphere and incel culture,” Thorne added.
The manopshere is a term used to describe websites and online forums promoting misogyny and opposition to feminism, while incels – short for involuntary celibate – are men who blame women because they are unable to find a sexual partner.
Adolescence is the sixth programme Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham have worked on together.
Jamie, the young suspect, is played by newcomer Owen Cooper, from Warrington, with Stephen Graham as his dad.
Graham said he was inspired to make the show after seeing two separate reports of boys stabbing girls to death.
“I read an article in the paper about a young boy who’d killed a young girl and a three weeks later I was watching the news and there was a story of a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“It really hurt my heart, I just thought, ‘what’s going on in society where this kind of thing is becoming a regular occurrence?’
“I just couldn’t fathom it. So I wanted to really have a look and try and shine a light on this particular thing.”
Adolescence is the sixth programme Graham and Thorne have worked on together.
“The thing that Stephen kept repeating through the process is it take a village to raise a child. The thing we started talking about is it take a village to destroy a child,” Thorne said.
He said the show was not inspired by any one particular incident, but rather an issue “they kept seeing all the time”.
“It could happen to anyone and that’s not saying anyone is capable of being Jamie,” he said.
“It’s about parents that didn’t see him, a school system that let him down and the ideas that he consumed.
“This is an ordinary family and this is an ordinary world and it’s really worrying what’s possible right now.”