Teachers call in the Yard to tackle 2,700 fights

Police were called to tackle serious violence in London schools almost 2,700 times this year, it was revealed today.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Conservatives found police were called into schools to deal with violence more than 7,000 times across England. The Met was called to 2,698 incidents.

Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said the numbers were "very worrying" adding: "Teachers do not have sufficient powers to nip discipline problems in the bud. We want to give them more authority to remove disruptive and violent children from the classroom and to tackle problems of bad behaviour."

Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said most of his members believed classroom behaviour was rapidly getting worse. "Regrettably, the problems reflect what is happening outside the school gate, and schools are oases of calm in comparison with what many children face on the streets and estates where they live," he said.

Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "There is a minority of pupils whose behaviour has become much worse."

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT union, said schools had been given wider powers to tackle bad behaviour but "too many fail to use them". She said governors were overruling headteachers and reinstating excluded pupils or schools were pressurised not to expel pupils by local authorities which have inadequate provision for them.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families dismissed the findings. She said: "The overwhelming majority of schools are safe and behaviour is very good. We do not recognise these figures."