Hate crime in Scottish schools is “deeply concerning”

Over a half of teachers have experienced or witnessed hate crime in the last two years, a poll shows.

According to a real-time electronic poll of teachers attending a conference organised by union NASUWT in Scotland, 52 per cent said they had experienced or witnessed hate crime in the last two years.

Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of those said the issue was not resolved satisfactorily.

The findings also revealed that 51 per cent said they had not been offered any equality awareness training in the last two years. Only 21 per cent said they had undertaken any such training.

Nearly half (47 per cent) said they have had no training on the Prevent Strategy which is designed to prevent young people becoming involved in terrorism. Over a third said they were not aware of the Prevent strategy.

Chris Keates, the union’s general secretary, commented: “Particularly concerning is the appalling level of hate crime being experienced and the failure to deal with these incidents effectively.

“The NASUWT has already called upon the Scottish government to introduce a duty on schools to record and monitor incidents of hate crime to identify the scale of the issue and to put in place robust measures to address it.

“Schools have a vital role to play in promoting social cohesion and the development of safe, inclusive and tolerant communities.”

Keates continued: “Teachers and school leaders are not being given the training and support they need and too many employers are at best only paying lip service to equalities, doing little in practice to address discrimination and prejudice.

“Our education service should be inclusive, promoting and demonstrating tolerance, respect and understanding in an environment where everyone can work and learn free from abuse and fear. This is crucial to achieving educational excellence for all.”