Hundreds of disabled children are being injured at school

"Hundreds of disabled children were injured in schools while being physically restrained, an investigation has found."

"Pupils were pinned face down on the floor, strapped into chairs, suffered broken bones and one had their head covered with a `spit hood`, according to 5 live Investigates."

"There were around 13,000 restraints resulting in 731 injuries in Britain over the last three years, according to a Freedom of Information request by the programme."

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15212958.More_than_700_disabled_children__injured_in_schools_while_restrained_/

"Data from the Scottish Government confirms that the number of pupils with additional support needs has vastly increased. In 2016, 170,329 pupils (24.9% of all pupils), were identified as having additional support needs and 95% spent at least some of their time in mainstream classes. In 2011, the overall number was 98,523."

"The increase over those five years is 73%. It is hard to see how it is possible to ‘Get it Right for Every Child’ when so many children now have identified needs, and schools are operating within austerity budgets."

"We are also concerned about the lack of resources for professional development and training, which ASN teachers wish to undertake so that they can better meet pupils’ changing needs. Schools lack funding for CPD courses or to cover the cost of supply staff to enable release from the classroom of teachers wishing to undertake relevant professional learning."

"The cuts in staffing resources also mean that ASN teachers have busier workloads and less time to complete incident reports, which can mean under-reporting of violent incidents. We also have concerns about the reduction in educational psychological services."

[The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)]

http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Education/General%20Documents/20170222ESASNSubmissions.pdf