Rate of violent pupils expelled rises for first time since 1996

The number of children expelled from school because of violence and lack of discipline is set to rise for the first time in five years as head teachers take aggressive action to curb high levels of bad behaviour.

Figures to be released this week will show the first increase in expulsions, now called school exclusions, since 1996. An internal report by one of the teaching unions also reveals a litany of aggressive behaviour by pupils which makes teaching in a 'supportive' school environment almost impossible.

The report by the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, passed to The Observer, reveals that teachers at 71 schools have threatened industrial action in the last 18 months because pupils have proved too difficult to teach. Teachers, who said they were often spat at, kicked and punched by pupils, also claim they are regularly undermined by exclusion appeals panels which try to reinstate pupils rather then educate them elsewhere.

On one occasion a pupil required hospital treatment after being beaten up by 10 other pupils. Although two of the pupils responsible were excluded, they were later re-instated on appeal.

Government figures on exclusions in England and Wales will show that, between 2000 and 2001, the number of exclusions rose from 8,600 to 9,100, reversing a trend of rapid decline in the number of excluded pupils.

Last year the Department for Education signalled a change in exclusion policy when it said that it would not set an 'artificial cap' on the number of expelled children.

Before that government policy had been to keep pupils in school for as long as possible, despite protests from teachers who claimed that they were being undermined.

The move led to a sharp reduction in the number of exclusions, falling from 12,700 in 1996 to 8,600 last year. Teachers said that there was a connected increase in problems of bad behaviour, leading the Government to change its policy.

'If someone needs to be excluded, then they will be,' said an education official. 'We made a contract with teachers that they must be allowed to tackle bad behaviour.'

The Government is also planning to close a series of loopholes in exclusion policy which often leave children outside full-time education while they wait for appeal decisions.

From September, excluded pupils will be sent to specialist education units where they will receive help with their behaviour and start the process of being reintegrated into mainstream schools.

Excluded pupils roaming the streets with little to do is thought to be one of the reasons for the increase in street crime.

Estelle Morris, the Education Secretary, has written to the 33 local education authorities in England and Wales informing them of the changes in the rules.

The NASUWT report reveals a siege-like atmosphere at many schools. At one London school, the teachers reported 'aggressive and confrontational conduct with excessive verbal abuse of teaching staff' by a boy readmitted after exclusion.

At another school in the North of England, more than 90 per cent of staff said they had been verbally abused by pupils.