The government needs to do more to support Plymouth's teaching staff so that they can cope with abusive pupils, according to unions.

It was revealed this week that 461 city schoolchildren were permanently  or temporarily excluded from school in the 2009/10 school year for physically or verbally abusing teachers.

The ATL says cut backs in LEA funding are having a big impact on the help available for pupils and that new guidelines on the use of reasonable force don't help .

Unions add that some teachers are actually suffering nervous breakdowns as a result of bullying from pupils.