The findings that verbal and physical violence against teachers is becoming part of the normal school day are shocking and dismaying.
We don’t pay teachers to run a gauntlet of abuse in schools where they are expected to provide pastoral as well as educational care to youngsters.
In the workplace, and in social and domestic settings, abuse is not tolerated and should be called out whenever it occurs.
The same should be true of schools which are the workplace for students and teachers.
The lesson has been learned that physical violence, the belt or the tawse, is not the answer to disruptive behaviour.
But discipline has to be learned and adhered to. We should not be in a situation where abusive behaviour is becoming accepted and going unchallenged in our schools.
A lack of respect for the status and professional standing of teachers has echoed in attitudes that pupils take to school.
That lack of respect and discipline has its roots in the home environment.
Calling on the Scottish Government to make “strong and unequivocal statements about the rights of teachers to a safe working environment” is all very well. The Government should respond in kind and give teachers the support they need and deserve.
But so too should parents instil a regard for learning, education and the educators in their children as they usher them out the door into the safekeeping of schools each day.
Scots pay price to travel
Holidaymakers accept the cost of going abroad during the pandemic is tight restrictions on where you can travel to and when.
If it means longer queues at the airport and face masks on the flight, then most people won’t complain.
But it doesn’t seem fair that Scots travellers face forking out up to £120 more for corona tests than those in England.
The Scottish Government insists everyone coming back from countries like France, Spain, Italy and Greece must book and pay for tests to avoid being put in quarantine.
In England, they can be purchased from a range of approved private firms for as little as £50.
But Scots must buy them through a government-backed booking portal which costs £170 per person.
These kinds of additional charges will put off passengers at exactly the time the travel industry needs all the business it can get.
