Racism has been the leading cause of bullying in Edinburgh schools for four consecutive years, accounting for around a quarter of all recorded incidents, according to new council figures.
Data covering 2021 to 2025 shows race-related bullying was the most commonly reported factor across both primary and secondary schools each year, despite an overall drop in incidents in the most recent figures.
According to a report from Edinburgh City Council, although the total number of bullying incidents in both primary and secondary schools remains above the 2021/2022 level, there were fewer incidents in 2024/2025 than in 2023/2024, and most categories declined.
The report showed that 24% of all recorded bullying incidents in primary school were motivated by “race and racism, including culture” in 2024/2025.
The overall number of incidents fell from the previous year, when there were 522 incidents (26% of all recorded bullying), to 469.
In secondary schools, racism accounted for 28% of reported incidents in 2024/2025, though the total number of racist incidents fell by 136, from 701 to 565.
The next most common reported reasons differed between sectors. In primary schools, the next largest categories were additional support needs (121 incidents, 6%) and body image (92 incidents, 5%).
In secondary schools, body image was the second most reported reason (289 incidents, 14%), followed by actual or perceived sexual orientation (205 incidents, 10%). There were 204 incidents of bullying based on additional support needs (ASN) in secondary schools, nearly triple the total of 70 reported in 2021/2022.
Council recording methods vary across schools
Beyond the named categories, a significant number of incidents were recorded without a clear reason given. In primary schools, “other” accounted for 20% of incidents in 2024/2025, while 37% were reported with the motivation “not known”. In secondary schools, the categories accounted for 7% and 19% respectively.
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Local authorities record incidents using “the highest possible count of incidents”, meaning each case of a perceived motivation for bullying is logged separately per pupil and per type of incident.
This means that, for example, one pupil who is the subject of racist bullying by two classmates through name-calling and abusive messages would show in the system as four instances of racism.
In November 2025, the council identified “variable recording of incidents” as one of the challenges it faced in its 2025/2026 equalities action plan. The council committed to reinforcing its guidance on recording, revising citywide policy in line with national guidance on anti-bullying and racist incidents, and piloting a new system for monitoring data at the school level.
Primary school bullying spiking
Concerns with rising instances of violence and bullying have been a yearly concern for the government, local authorities, individual teachers and parents. Last year, The Herald reported that 64,077 bullying incidents were logged across 25 local authorities in Scotland between August 2020 and June 2025.
Data obtained by The Herald through FOI requests showed that levels of bullying in primary schools were significantly higher in 2025 than they were in 2020.
According to The Herald’s data, the 17,019 instances of bullying reported in Edinburgh between 2020 and 2025 were the most of any local authority during that period.
The next highest were Glasgow (9,382), the Scottish Borders (6,952), and Dumfries and Galloway (5,904) schools.
During that time period, bullying cases in primary schools rose by 186% across Scotland, while there was a 102% increase in secondary school bullying.
There have been many reports on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting increase in screen time, with some suggesting that children will begin to exhibit social and developmental difficulties linked to the pandemic, depending on how old they were when they lived through it.
The University of the West of Scotland was funded by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) to conduct a study to identify the causes of rising violence and bullying in schools and early learning and childcare (ELC) settings.
Bullying numbers part of wider school violence landscape
The statistics on bullying were shared this week after members of the Education Committee requested the latest data on violence, bullying, and other behaviours of concern. Although data shows that individual instances of bullying might be on the decline, reports of ‘violence with injury’ increased from 1,976 in 2023/2024 to 2,680 in 2024/2025.
According to the council report, special schools reported the highest percentage of violent incidents “relative to the number of pupils”.
The Edinburgh Evening News recently reported there were 3,522 physical assaults on teachers in 2024/2025, an average of roughly 18 a day. In 2017/2018, there were 783 such assaults reported.
During a meeting of Edinburgh’s Education, Children and Families Committee on Monday, members debated the role of unmet additional support needs in driving instances of violence.
Education committee convener James Dalgleish said that “any allegation of bullying in our schools is taken seriously, and we will take appropriate action against any pupil who behaves inappropriately.
He added: “We’re committed to ensuring all our schools are welcoming, safe, and respectful spaces for everyone. Nobody should be discriminated against in any way. Over the last several years, we’ve put renewed efforts into combating this through refining our procedure for dealing with bullying and prejudice, encouraging an anti-racist culture, and ensuring colleagues have the right training and support.
“We work proactively to prevent and respond to bullying and prejudice, where it occurs. This includes listening to and reassuring a child or young person who has experienced bullying and introducing support measures if required.
We also work with individuals who have bullied others to reinforce the message that bullying and prejudice are not acceptable.
“If this type of behaviour occurs, staff are encouraged to report it as soon as it happens, so that appropriate action can be taken and support put in place. We are providing education as part of PSHE lessons on equality, healthy relationships, respect, and self-esteem to help young people to recognise, understand and challenge inappropriate language and behaviour.
“We’ll continue to work with our colleagues, pupils, and the wider community to make our education system better for everyone.”
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