Less than 1 per cent of assaults against teachers and assistants in Canberra public schools have been reported to police in the past four years, new ACT government data shows.
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Education Minister Joy Burch has told the Legislative Assembly there have been 176 incidents of assault recorded in government schools so far in 2015, with the vast majority involving female teachers and classroom assistants.
Schools are not required to notify police of all incidents that are the subject of internal reporting but occupational health and safety data showed police had been notified in nine instances, less than 0.7 per cent of all assaults over four years.
The records of assault predominantly relate to students hitting teachers and school assistants, and the data only includes incidents where contact was deemed to have been intentional.
Women consistently faced more assaults than men in territory schools.
In the 2014 school year there were 368 assault incidents, of which 323 were against female teachers and staff and 45 against males.
In 2013 there were 288 assaults recorded: 250 against females and 38 against males.
In 2012 there were 275 assaults recorded: 229 against females and 46 against males.
In the first three terms of this year, 160 assaults have been recorded against females and 16 against males.
Where there were fewer than five instances of assault recorded, some data for individual schools and school zones was not provided to avoid identification of schools or individuals.
In the four-year period schools in north Canberra and Gungahlin school network had the most assaults recorded, with 376.
The Tuggeranong school network had 290 assaults recorded, while the south Canberra and Weston network had 250 assaults recorded.
The Belconnen network recorded the lowest number of assaults in the period, with 184.
Ms Burch told the Assembly data retrieved by Education Directorate officials showed nine incident reports out of 1294 included the word 'police'.
In the same four year period there have been 31 incidents "involving verbal assault" in territory public schools.
Ms Burch said it was expected schools reported every instance of assault against teachers and school assistants. Assaults are reviewed through the collection of statements from observers and the participants.
Anyone affected by assault is provided with support.
"Notifiable incidents are required to be reported immediately to WorkSafe ACT and followed up within 48 hours by a written report," she said.
"Supervisors are required to immediately report and isolate the scene until advice is received from WorkSafe ACT regarding investigation. Supervisors follow up on the health and wellbeing of staff [and] students and investigate all other accidents or incidents to ensure staff safety and minimise the risk of any re-occurrence."
Data about incidents in schools is reported to officials on a monthly basis, allowing for trends of injuries to be identified and for appropriate responses to be formed.
About 43,000 students are currently enrolled in 86 schools across the ACT.
Last week Ms Burch announced public school students would wear new, more traditional style uniforms from 2017 following consultation with schools and families.
