Government must ‘step up’ its response to youth violence – teaching union chief

The Government must “step up” its response to the “public health issue” of youth violence, a teaching union chief has said.

Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said teachers say mobile phones are “lethal weapons” which pupils are using at school to abuse others and disrupt lessons.

In a speech to the union’s annual conference in Liverpool, Mr Roach called for a plan to tackle the “national emergency”.

He said: “Youth violence is now a public health issue of our times and we need a national response to it.

“Restricting pupils’ access to mobile phones would be a start, but we need much more than that.”

In his final address to the union’s conference as general secretary, Mr Roach called for better support for parents to keep children safe, and “robust action” against social media companies and against those who seek to incite others.

The union chief said: “We need Government to step up its response too.”

Mr Roach reflected on the violence which broke out last summer – after the murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport – and he said it was sparked by “extremists on social media”.

He warned that the events last summer “won’t be the last unless protective measures are taken”.

A motion, passed by delegates at the NASUWT’s annual conference, said the impact of the violent disturbances last summer “continues to impact school and college communities” and places their safety and security “at risk”.

Addressing delegates at the conference on Friday, the NASUWT leader also called for a fully funded “real terms pay award” for teachers this autumn.

“That’s how ministers can provide the hope the profession is looking for,” he said.

In its evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) in December, the Department for Education (DfE) said a 2.8% pay rise for teachers in 2025/26 would be “appropriate” and would “maintain the competitiveness” of teachers’ pay despite the “challenging financial backdrop” the Government is facing.

The Government has yet to publish the recommendations of the teachers’ pay review body, or its decision on whether to accept them.

The NASUWT leader said: “We hope that the pay review body will have been even more ambitious for teachers than Government has so far proposed.

“It will now though be for ministers to say what they will do about the recommendations in that pay review body report.

“Any suggestion that teachers can be offered a real terms pay cut, or that the pay award will not be fully funded, or that any school or college will have to make further cuts to provision for pupils in order to pay teachers, any such suggestion, the Government should expect will be met with the response from our members that it deserves.”

Earlier this week, delegates at the National Education Union’s conference in Harrogate voted to launch a formal strike ballot if the final outcome of the STRB process “remains unacceptable” – or if the Government does not announce real-terms funding increases in the spending review in June.

Mr Roach reflected on the actions of the Labour Government as he said “we cannot pretend that the last nine months have been easy or comfortable”.

In his speech, the NASUWT leader called on the Government to “make the right choice” and remove the two-child benefit cap, which he described as a “nasty, spiteful, vindictive and discriminatory policy”.

He said: “As long as the two-child policy continues to be in place, the lives and futures of hundreds of thousands more children will be damaged unnecessarily.”

The national executive of the NASUWT has endorsed Matt Wrack, former leader of the Fire Brigades Union, to replace Mr Roach as the union’s general secretary.

Local associations can nominate potential challengers and if a candidate gets endorsements from enough associations there will be an election for the position.

The deadline for submissions for any potential challengers for the position of general secretary is Saturday – the final day of the NASUWT’s conference.

Addressing delegates, Mr Roach said: “As I step down as your general secretary, I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you because that is what a general secretary should do, serve our members.

“For giving me the opportunity – the first black general secretary in our union’s proud 100 year history, and I pay tribute to all those who have stood here before me and on whose shoulders we all rise.”