Dramatic fall in possession of knives in Scottish schools and 50 times as many English teachers see a student with one

Professor John Robertson OBA

According to Sky in February 2025: Almost one in five teachers have seen students with knives in England’s schools, Sky News survey finds

I wonder what ratio of Scottish Teachers will have seen students with knives?

From Police Scotland:

Having in a school an article with a blade or point

  • 2023/2024 – 22 cases
  • 2022/2023 – 25 cases
  • 2021/2022 – 71 cases
  • 2020/2021 – 48 cases
  • 2019/2020 – 87 cases
  • 2018/2019 – 76 cases
  • 2017/2018 – 96 cases

Source: Crime data – Police Scotland

So, each incident might mean more than one teacher sees the knife possession – say, 4?

There are 54 000 teachers in Scotland and if say, every knife possession incident is seen by 4 of the staff, we can divide the above Police Scotland case numbers into 1 300 to get the rough ratio.

So, last year 1 in 590 Scottish teachers saw students with knives and 7 years ago it was 1 in 135. Some way to go to get to 1 in 5?

3 thoughts on “Dramatic fall in possession of knives in Scottish schools and 50 times as many English teachers see a student with one”

  1. When I was a school pupil in the 1950s and 1960s having a knife was common amongst boys and male teachers. Almost always, it was a penknife – a Swiss Army knife was highly prized. It was perceived as a normal male thing to have because of its utility – sharpening pencils, whittling a piece of tree branch, unscrewing screws, peeling fruit or veg, tightening or loosening screws, etc. people who were keen on fishing had knives for gutting, etc.

    Boys who were in the scouts had larger knives, men wearing kilts usually had a sgian dhu in their stockings.

    There was a normality about having knives.

    Of course there were and there continues to be knife crimes, usually assaults on the person and sometimes murders and manslaughter. These things are serious, but a relatively few people are victims and assailants. Mostly, the victims and perpetrators are young men, often in their teens. Often, the carrying of a knife is an act of bravado, with no intent to use the knife as a weapon. But…

    As a teacher, if someone was suspected of having a knife – almost always because other pupils had told me – I could ask the pupil to hand it over, which, usually, they did. I could also ask the pupil if I could search them for it, in the presence of others and, if they refused, could summon a parent to assist, or the police. In almost every case, it could be resolved sensibly.

    The problem is the excitable teacher or parent who notifies the local paper or radio station and the lurid reports lead education officials and councillors to overreact, get things out of proportion and make rules that cause even more difficulty.

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  2. Knife deaths in London rose 200 a year because of austerity. Welfare programmes taken away. Support and wellness devastated. The result more costs were made on support services, including NHS, Police and social services. Austerity a waste of time and money because of additional expense. Westminster Gov cuts instead of support cost more in other services.

    More has to be spent overall because of poverty and sickness. Unwelcome cuts cost more overall. Instead of help and support more people die. A false economy. Westminster incompetents lose more money than is intended to save. Poor, bad decisions. Cost more overall. In other services.

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  3. Pingback: Talking-up Scotland [Collective]

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