Pupil behaviour and discipline are currently receiving a lot of attention, including in the Senedd. This has been particularly so since a 14-year-old girl received a 15-year prison sentence for the attempted murder of two teachers and a pupil in a Carmarthenshire school.
Incidents of that scale are rare, although unions representing school staff have reported the growing problem of pupil behaviour, including aggression and violence. This mirrors similar concerns raised in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Young people themselves are also raising concerns, including the Welsh Youth Parliament's committee on Crime and Safety. Understandably there are debates about what more needs to be done and by whom.
The Welsh Government already issues guidance and policies that aim to help schools manage behaviour effectively. Schools must have a written behaviour policy and school governing bodies are required to consult with the headteacher, staff, parents and carers, and pupils on the principles of the policy.
What is the nature and scale of the problem?
NASUWT reported in March 2025 that the “behaviour crisis in Wales [is] deepen…[ing] as teachers report pupil violence and negative impact on health”. NASUWT’s findings included that local authorities received 6,446 violent incident reports from schools in 2023/24, compared to 4,714 the previous year; and 35.5% of teachers had experienced physical abuse or violence from pupils in the previous year, with 92% experiencing verbal abuse.
In 2022, UNISON also highlighted the growing problem of violence towards school staff, and has issued advice to its members.
The Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education (CYPE) Committee took some written evidence on this topic from teacher and support staff unions (NASUWT, NEU and UNISON) back in 2022. This arose out of its inquiry into peer on peer sexual harassment, looking into whether this was an issue also affecting teachers. The unions’ responses indicated that they were concerned about violence towards school staff more generally.
The CYPE Committee then wrote to the WLGA and the then Minister, Jeremy Miles MS. See here for the responses from the WLGA and Minister, and UNISON’s comments on the WLGA’s letter.
What is the Welsh Government doing?
Earlier this month, the Welsh Government held a “round-table on violence and safety in schools and colleges”, chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle MS. This is being followed by a “national behaviour summit”, due to be held tomorrow (Thursday 22 May), which is expected to hear from schools and headteachers about the wider issues they face beyond violence.
The Cabinet Secretary has said she “wanted to be clear that the summit is not the only thing that we are doing”:
We were working anyway on a behaviour toolkit to support headteachers and senior leaders in schools in making well-informed decisions about behaviour policies, and also to help with strategies to prevent behavioural issues and to deal with issues when they happen and prevent problems escalating.
Lynne Neagle MS added in the Senedd debate last month that the Welsh Government is:
- investing over £13 million annually in the “whole-school approach” to mental health, with over £2 million for school-based counselling;
- supporting the well-being of staff, working with Education Support to provide counselling and other services they need;
- embedding a community focused school approach, publishing guidance on multi-agency working;
- funding family engagement officers in schools across Wales to help with issues such as pupil absence; and
- publishing research commissioned from Bangor University into classroom behaviour (expected later this month).
The Welsh Government also remitted Estyn to carry out reviews of behaviuour in secondary schools and colleges, which were published this month. There is also currently a consultation on revised anti bullying guidance.
What did Estyn find?
Estyn’s report on behaviour in secondary schools (May 2025) states school leaders and staff have reported a decline in the behaviour of a few of their pupils since the pandemic. However, it also says that it remains difficult to understand the full extent of the problem as there is no national system to collect incidences of poor behaviour in schools.
Estyn made recommendations to schools, local authorities and the Welsh Government, which has accepted the recommendation to run a national campaign to promote and explain the importance of good behaviour with parents/carers and pupils.
Pupil behaviour also featured in the latest annual report of Estyn’s Chief Inspector. He said it was one of the “challenges in the system that hamper progress” and told the CYPE Committee in March:
“the wave of anecdote I hear from everyone—from headteachers to teachers to caretakers to support staff—is that behaviour, particularly out of the classroom, has worsened”.
Related issues
Exclusions
The latest published rates (academic year 2022/23) at which pupils are being excluded from school are the highest in the data collection period since 2011/12. There are three categories of exclusions according to the length and type of exclusion: fixed term exclusions of 5 days or less, fixed term exclusions of more than 5 days, and permanent exclusions. The table below compares the latest position with the last full year before the pandemic.
Table 1: Rates of exclusions in primary and secondary schools 2022/23
| Rate of exclusions per 1,000 pupils | ||||||
| Fixed-term exclusions (5 days or less) | Fixed-term exclusions (over 5 days) |
Permanent | ||||
| Primary schools | Secondary schools | Primary schools | Secondary schools | Primary schools | Secondary schools | |
| 2018/19 | 12.4 | 75 | 0.5 | 3.3 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| 2022/23 | 13.3 | 131.2 | 0.4 | 5.2 | 0.1 | 1.8 |
Source: Welsh Government, Permanent and fixed-term exclusions from schools: September 2022 to August 2023, October 2024, Table 1
Attendance
Although not directly related to behaviour, school attendance rates give rise to concerns over levels of pupil engagement. The latest fortnightly data published by the Welsh Government shows that for the 2024/2025 academic year to 25 April, primary school attendance is 92.9% and secondary school attendance is 89.0%. Levels have risen from their lowest point in 2022/23 but remain lower than before the pandemic when they were 94.7% and 93.9% respectively (2018/19).
We have written previously about the particular concerns there are over levels of persistent absence (defined as a pupil missing more than 10% of school) and the attendance of disadvantaged pupils, as measured by those eligible for free school meals (eFSM).
Mobile phones
A 2023 Scottish Government research report on pupil behaviour indicated that the abusive use of mobile phones and digital technologies was one of the most frequently experienced serious disruptive behaviours observed or experienced by secondary school staff.
The Senedd has recently debated a petition calling for a ban on smartphones in all schools other than in exceptional circumstances. While not in favour of an outright ban, the Welsh Government accepted a recommendation from the Senedd’s Petitions Committee to develop a national policy framework and associated guidance that all schools can use to amend or refine their existing policies on restricting use of phones and other smart devices in schools.
Well-being
In addition to the heightened attention on pupils’ behaviour, there is also a focus on their well-being. This may sometimes lie behind some behavioural problems and may arise when pupils are adversely affected by the behaviour of others. In 2021, the Welsh Government issued a statutory framework on embedding a whole-school approach to emotional and mental wellbeing. The Welsh Government allocates £13.6 million annually to support implementation of the whole-school approach.
Wider context
The Cabinet Secretary’s priorities are to improve attainment and increase attendance. Tackling the disruptive and destructive impact of pupils’ poor behaviour is seen as key to this agenda.
As well as directly affecting school staff well-being (a key factor in challenging trends in teacher recruitment and retention) and pupil well-being, it has a considerable bearing on delivery of the Welsh Government’s Programme for Government objective to “continue our long-term programme of education reform, and ensure educational inequalities narrow and standards rise”.
Article by Michael Dauncey, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
