Teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs) who have been physically injured in the classroom are calling for greater support and changes to the Government's Leave of Absence following Assault Scheme.
Their call has been backed by unions INTO and Fórsa as figures show more than 2,000 school staff have availed of the scheme since it was set up in 2017.
Teachers and SNAs working in special and mainstream schools told RTÉ News about being bitten, slapped, punched, pushed up against walls, having their hair pulled on a daily basis after some children physically lashed out.
Many of them did not want to speak publicly, but said they had been left extremely traumatised after some serious assaults.
Unions, teachers and SNAs stress that this is never the fault of the child with special needs.
They say that it is often a way for students to communicate or to indicate that their needs are not being met.
Figures obtained by RTÉ News from the Department of Education show that more than 2,000 primary and secondary school teachers and SNAs have availed of the Government’s assault leave scheme since it was set up in 2017.
Up to the end of October this year, 360 school staff took leave due to being assaulted.
Leave of absence can be granted to a teacher or SNA who is unable to work due to a physical injury following an assault that happened in a school setting.
The majority of the assaults happened to SNAs working in primary schools, but these figures do not show the full picture because the data does not include staff employed by Education and Training Boards.
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Unions say there is not enough early intervention and when a child is struggling to communicate, their behaviour gets worse.
Unions, including the INTO and Forsa, say schools need proper resources, teachers and SNAs need support and more training.
Concerns over lack of early intervention
Inclusion Ireland Chief Executive Derval McDonagh said the system is not working and changes need to be made.
"What we need to see is more SNA and teacher training in our schools. Making sure that people know how to support students appropriately and really looking at what is going wrong that a child is showing up in such a distressed state.
"Some of what we are hearing is that many special classes and special schools are being set up very quickly and we are not adequately resourcing teachers from an upskilling perspective and resourcing SNAs as well - so we really need to look at what is happening for children in those environments."
There have been calls for reform of the scheme for teachers and SNAs, particularly in special schools and special class settings.
The maximum leave available for assault is three months at full pay in a rolling four-year period and can be extended for another three months in cases of serious assault, but some people require a longer time to recover.
Financial hardship
The INTO said many teachers or SNAs are left using their standard sick leave following an incident, resulting in financial hardship and long-term emotional and physical consequences.
The union has called for an extension to the duration of assault leave and financial supports to cover medical bills, therapy, and medication following an assault.
They say too many teachers and SNAs are being left to cope alone after traumatic incidents.
INTO General Secretary Deirdre O’Connor said: "What we want to see is a change to the definition that arises from assault. We want to see an extension of the time for applying for assault leave. Because you have to apply for assault straight after the assault happened and that is not always evident for people that they have been injured.
"We are calling for an extension of the duration of the payment during assault leave and also we are calling for other supports like counselling and psychological supports and we are asking for employers to step up and to cover the expenses and the costs that are occurred by teachers when they do suffer an assault."
Forsa, which represents SNAs, wants the assault leave scheme extended to include occupational injury.
Fórsa Head of Education Andy Pike said: "Many SNAs working in schools, and I’m sure this would apply to teachers as well, would be very reluctant to attribute an injury that occurs through working with a student as an assault.
"So an SNA could be working with a student who becomes excited, swings around their neck, there’s an injury but to get any benefit from the Department of Education scheme you have got to confirm that constitutes an assault but many of our members won't do that because they don’t want to label the student as having assaulted them or acted in an aggressive manner.
"They are then off work using their sick leave and they get no assistance whatsoever."
In a statement, the Department of Education said it has commenced a review of the terms and conditions of the Leave of Absence following Assault Scheme in consultation with unions and school management bodies.
It said that any changes to the terms and conditions of this scheme must be made through engagement and agreement with the Education Partners and the approval of the Department of Public Expenditure.
