Incidents of violence and verbal abuse against teachers in Scotland are at record levels after rising by more than 4% since last year, The Herald can reveal.

Statistics from local authorities made public under Freedom of Information legislation show there were 7306 physical or verbal attacks on school staff in 2006-07 compared to 7003 in 2005-06. Of these, 4608 involved physical violence, a rise of 2.2%.

Last night, teaching unions and politicians condemned the figures and called for violent pupils to be permanently excluded from the classroom.

Figures published last year show that, although there were more than 5000 assaults on pupils and teachers in 2005, only 2% ended in permanent expulsion.

There was also anger that the latest figures had to be obtained under Freedom of Information legislation because the Scottish Government no longer publishes them.

Because different local authorities collect the figures in different ways, the decision was taken by the former administration to stop their publication.

However, the Scottish Conservative Party, which requested the figures, has always argued that they represent the best information available and should therefore be available to the public.

The party has urged Fiona Hyslop, the Education Secretary, to move to publish the figures annually, a position she called for when in opposition.

Last night, Murdo Fraser, the party's education spokesman, said: "These figures show that every 14 minutes of the school day somewhere in Scotland, there is a physical attack on a teacher, an increase of 2% on last year.

"More worryingly, for the second year in a row Scottish Conservatives have been forced to uncover them because the last administration scrapped them."

Liz Smith, the party's spokeswoman for schools, urged the current Scottish Government to re-publish the figures annually.

"There must be a firm commitment now to resort back to publishing this vital factual information on an annual basis. How else can we monitor and improve things?" she said.

"Teachers have a right to be taken seriously and Fiona Hyslop needs to U-turn on her U-turn. When in opposition, she supported our calls to publish these figures annually, whereas since the election she has dramatically changed her stance."

She said her party would look at ways to create separate units for the most persistently disruptive children.

The issue of reporting incidents of assault on teachers is still under consideration, according the the Scottish Government.

A spokesman said yesterday: "The decision on whether to publish annual statistics on verbal and physical assaults by pupils on teachers is currently under review.

"Definitions and reporting systems are variable and inconsistent, and can make the collation unreliable. We want data to be comprehensive and consistent in order to understand the levels and seriousness of indiscipline in our schools."

An EIS spokesman said: "Any rise in the number of attacks on teachers, no matter how small, is a matter of serious concern and all attacks on teachers are unacceptable.

" Thankfully, physical assaults on teachers do remain comparatively rare so it is important to retain a sense of perspective but the fact remains that one physical attack on a teacher is one attack too many.

"The Scottish Government and local authorities must work together to tackle pupil indiscipline by providing better support for teachers and by reducing class sizes to allow teachers to give each pupil more individual attention."

Jim Doherty, the assistant general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, claimed that the true figures were much larger because of the pressure put on teachers by senior staff not to report every incident.

"We are aware that not every incident of violence is reported and there are very distinct attempts at management level to restrict the reporting of certain incidents to make the figures look better," he said.

"What cannot be hidden is the fact that there is no doubt that incidents of verbal and physical abuse are becoming more common and we believe the problem is that exclusions are not being used in the way they should."

However, Isabel Hutton, education spokeswoman for Cosla, which represents Scotland's local authorities, said that the increase was likely to have come from better reporting rather than restricted reporting.

"One attack in the classroom is one too many and this rise is concerning but it clearly demonstrates an improvement in the mechanism for recording incidents of violence and the fact that people are coming forward is to be both welcomed and encouraged," she said.