The data comes days after Victorian principals reported being bitten, having clumps of hair pulled out and finding students with knives, as physical attacks and threats against senior school staff increased to a level never seen before.

On Wednesday, a teenager was charged after an alleged stabbing at a Melton South school in Melbourne’s west which left a 16-year-old in hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The new figures do not show whether offences were committed by students or during school hours. A police spokesperson said certain crimes such as burglaries and thefts often occurred when schools were closed.

Education locations referred to in the data can include public and private schools, school grounds and other educational areas.

Education consultant and former principal Adam Voight said teachers had noted a spike in aggressive and violent behaviours among students.

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He said school leaders needed effective training on how to successfully handle high-pressure situations when education departments were simultaneously making it more difficult to suspend or expel students.

“At the moment, we’re leaving them with these flowcharts to follow,” he said. “Regulations are ambiguous [and there are] massive programs around behaviour to implement in their school that don’t really change much at all. So we’re leaving them with big responsibility but not much help.”

Voight said students posting incidents on social media increased the challenge – and the danger – for schools and their communities.

“If something happens at school, there are older brothers, there are gangs, there are groups in the community that are informed by the time the kids leave school that afternoon,” he said.

Voight said authorities were aware of where most of the incidents occurred and could alleviate some of the problem by properly funding community programs to address the social and emotional needs of students involved.

But he said that until then, behaviour would continue to fuel the exodus from teaching.

“Teachers have been telling us for more than 20 years, the number-one stressor is student behaviour,” Voight said. “COVID kind of poked the bruise ... there’s a lot of them now who are saying that’s the primary reason that they’re leaving the profession.”

Victorian Principals Association president Andrew Dalgleish said the rising number of incidents reported in education settings was reflective of broader community issues.

He said the Education Department had supports in place but student behaviour was “incredibly complex” and there would always be challenges around resourcing.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said violence and threatening behaviour was never acceptable, no matter where it occurred. In addition to responding to incidents, police visited schools to provide information to students, teachers and parents on topics relating to the law, safety and wellbeing.

The Education Department has been contacted for comment.