Created on: 17 Jun 2025
The Educational Institute of Scotland, has today responded to the Scottish Government’s publication of Consequences Guidance for schools.
While acknowledging the intent of the Guidance to help tackle poor behaviour in schools, the EIS has warned that only the provision of additional resources to support the guidance will prove that the Scottish Government is serious about tackling this worrying issue.
Commenting on publication of the Guidance, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “While welcoming the intent to address the issue, the EIS has been clear in relation to both the national behaviour action plan and the Consequences guidance that policies alone will not address the serious issue of violence and aggression we are seeing in schools across Scotland unless they are accompanied by additional funding and dedicated investment in education. There need to be a range of interventions, underpinned by resources, which can be adopted to ensure that everyone is safe in school – pupils, teachers and school staff.”
Ms Bradley continued, “We cannot ignore the educational and wellbeing impacts of behaviour which gives rise to significant disruption and health and safety concerns. So, there does need to be a set of escalating consequences available to respond to this, up to and including exclusion. The EIS would, however, say that exclusion should be used judiciously. We are aware of the long-term impact of exclusion and time should be taken to plan for effective interventions which will look at fully re-engaging the young person in education, addressing the underlying causes of the behaviour and making plans to minimise the risk of recurrence, with health and safety always being a prime consideration.”
Ms Bradley added, “The content of this new guidance reflects existing GIRFEC policy, promoting early intervention approaches to prevent escalation of behaviour, whole school relational approaches, such as restorative practice and multi-agency interventions. These are sound educational approaches but teachers have been clear that they need time and space and resources to implement them – we need smaller class sizes, reduced class contact time and investment in ASL to tackle the violence and aggression in our schools. The reality is that, unless the guidance is matched by investment, little will change. We need more than carefully considered words to make a difference, we need investment, and we need more resources -including more teachers and support staff in our schools.”