Pupils 'stage an assault every nine minutes'

A teacher suffers a physical or verbal assault every nine minutes of the school day, it was revealed today.

NASUWT teachers' union members said they faced everything from being sworn at, to being attacked with hammers and knives.

At least once a week around the country, members are asked to take part in "refusal to teach" ballots over pupils who have been expelled for violent behaviour but allowed back into class after appealing to the local authority, the union's annual conference heard in Brighton.

Tim Beech, regional coordinator of the union's eastern region, which includes Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Essex, said the Government must reinforce schools' rights to eject the most unruly children. "There has got to be zero tolerance and the sanction has to be exclusion," he said.

The conference unanimously backed the retention of teachers' rights to vote on whether the worst-behaved children should be allowed back in class.