A SHOCK survey has revealed teaching staff are living in daily fear of attack from parents and pupils.

The startling study shows one in five teachers work at a school where parents have been banned by court order and three out of four secondary school teachers have suffered verbal abuse from pupils.

Neil Thornley, North West Council member for the National Association of Headteachers, said he was not surprised at the findings.

Mr Thornley, head of Fearns High School, Bacup, said parents had stormed into classrooms at his school twice in the last 12 months.

He said: "We've had two incidents here that have left teachers in a very distressed state.

"Try to imagine how you'd feel after being harangued by a parent in front of a classroom full of children.

"This is an age where this sort of thing seems to be regarded as normal behaviour.

"I've also heard that a parent lay in wait for a teacher in the car park of another school.

"The Government has carried out a propaganda campaign where these incidents have been brushed aside as one-offs.

"It's time they realised it's happening in schools every day."

Earlier this year, Sue Hyland, head at Blackburn's Queen's Park High School, told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph that persistent classroom offenders are excluded from school.

Following calls to ban children whose parents were violent or aggressive towards teachers, she said: "I can't envisage a situation where a parent was causing so much trouble that I would expel the pupil."

The new survey, carried out by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers questioned more than 1,000 North West members.

The findings showed that:

43 per cent of primary teachers suffered verbal abuse by parents

Most at risk are teachers of three to seven-year-olds.

89 per cent of secondary school teachers endure repeated verbal abuse

One in seven has been the victim of a physical assault.

Now the ATL's Easter conference will hear calls for improved school security and personal alarms for staff.

Lancashire County Council recently launched a new set of security guidelines in the wake of a series of violent incidents at schools.

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