Secondary School Teachers Perceptions and Experience of Violence in the Workplace

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Secondary School Teachers Perceptions and
Experience of Violence in the Workplace

• Dr Denise Martin, Jane Healy and Dr Nicola
  Mackenzie
• Nordic Conference of Victim Support and
  Victimology
• March 2008

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Introduction

• Increasing concerns about the levels of violence
  in schools over the past decade
• Pekka-Eric Auvinen who killed 8 people including
  the Headteacher in Jokela High school
• Columbine and Virginian Tech
• International Observatory on Violence in Schools
• Although extreme events of violence are rare

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• Physical and Psychological effect of this
• It is essential to understand the consequences of
  this
• Much Research on School Violence focused on pupil
  to pupil, bullying
• Research on Teacher Violence tended to be survey
  based and quantitative in nature and not fully
  explore their perceptions and experience of
  violence give voice to the teachers
• Also incorporation of workplace violence
  literature

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Defining Violence

• School-Based Literature
• Unacceptable Behaviour
• Incivility
• Indiscipline
• Workplace violence
• Any untoward incident where staff are abused,
  threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating
  to their work, involving implicit challenges to
  their safety, wellbeing or health

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Our Definition

• An incident in which an employee is abused,
  threatened or assaulted by a student, pupil or
  member of the public in circumstances arising out
  of the course of his or her employment
• (National Association of Headteachers 2000)

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Teachers Experience of Violence in the Workplace

• Health and Safety Executive found that violent
  assaults by pupils on school staff increased by a
  third in 2004
• Teacher support network found 84 of teachers
  answering a questionnaire had been verbally
  abused by pupils. 29 had been physically
  assaulted by pupils
• 12 had been abused or assaulted by parents
• Neill 2001

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Consequences

• Association of Teachers and Lecturers reported a
  third of Teachers had experienced physical
  aggression and half those surveyed knew someone
  who had left the profession because of it.
• White Paper for Education (Steer 2005) need to
  have clear and unambiguous rules and sanctions
  against low-level disruption
• NUT (2005) Teachers, support staff and pupils
  have been failed if they do not feel confident
  that they are protected from physical violence
  and assault- also seen as trigger for teachers
  leaving profession

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Workplace Violence

• Waddington et al (2006) suggest that workplace
  violence must be seen as a important social
  problem because it can have an impact on
  recruitment, retention, absenteeism and
  performance at work
• Although again research suggests that serious and
  severe incidents of violence were rare-need to
  recognise heightened fear and vulnerability in
  the workplace.
• Waddington explains that exposure to incivilities
  can lead to fears about personal safety
• Fear of crime literature by Hale et al-fear of
  crime valid response-depend of situations and
  exposure

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Research data-Teachers Experience

• Research carried out over a 12 month period
• Questionnaires sent to 2100-275 returned
• Contained both open and closed questions
• North London, Hertfordshire and Essex
• Postal Strike and busy professionals
• Interviews also conducted with Teachers
• Focus Groups

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• Most respondents experienced verbal abuse
• Three out of Five Teachers experienced threats
• Two thirds reported being exposed to Physical
  Violence
• Direct and Indirect- breaking up fights to
  personalised attack

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Comments from Questionnaires

• I was restraining a pupil from getting to another
  pupil. In his rage I was hit, kicked and my
  eyeglasses got broken (P180)
• Threatened by parents (various occasions) (P197)
• The most humiliating experience of violence that
  I have been exposed to was being spat at in the
  face whilst trying to prevent a pupil attacking
  another member of staff. (P230)
• I cannot describe all the incidents I would have
  to write a book. Some are more serious than
  others, but verbal abuse is a frequent event.
  Physical abuse is much rarer and has only
  happened about seven times. This includes being
  hit with a door being run into at speed having
  things thrown at me, whether by accident or
  design. (P272)

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• Constant verbal abuse. Throwing furniture.
  Threatening with scissors. Spitting.
  Scratching.(P25)
• Punched. Kicked. Bitten.(P42)
• Name calling. Racist comments. Homophobic
  comments ... Damage to car on school
  premises.(P49)

• In the last 3 years I had one incident of being
  pushed to the ground and one incident of being
  hit. I have also been pushed out of the way. I
  have seen numerous incidents of violence amongst
  pupils (serious violence) and have seen and heard
  of other staff being physically hurt and verbally
  abused (P109)

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Comments from Interviews

• At previous school Ive had situations where
  Ive had to restrain students from physically
  attacking other students not members of staff and
  thats always a really difficult position to be
  in
• it was after my first school experience that
  Ive decided to do supply Like one pupil I
  remember was actually was able to describe my car
  and the number plate and you know, watch your
  back was my comment, you know, my threat forms
  of swearing or threatening comments verbal
  abuse, yes
• at previous school there were lots of incidents
  and so it sort of became sort of par for the
  course and I think therefore in dealing with it a
  lot of things were accepted and it was only like
  the really major bad things that I thought were
  actually dealt with
• I told a student off for not having a pen, you
  know, and he gave me a load of abuse, verbal
  abuse that is, and I thought well, fair enough,
  thats the end of it, you know, but erm, then the
  next day his parents came up the school and they
  had erm, you know these snooker balls in socks,
  and they started wandering through the school,
  smashing the windows

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Colleagues Experience

• Participants were also questioned about their
  colleagues experience
• 92 reported that colleagues also experienced
  violence in the workplace
• this one woman, who two pupils threw the stones
  at, theyd shouted at her, and her husband died
  last year and they were just shouting abuse at
  her your husbands de-ad in song voice you
  know? Thats kind of like just to get a reaction,
  and so she was very upset, this colleague, and
  she went up to them and said something to them
  and then they just started throwing stones at her
  car and giving her a hard time, too
• a colleague of mine in one school, actually got
  hit on the back of the head with a laboratory
  stool, you know, and, that affected him quite a
  lot. He had to go to hospital he was off work
  for a few weeks, and he was very upset about that
  and that did have an affect on him
• I mean frequently teachers would be told to
  F-off, emm doors slammed in their faces, and
  that was like an every day occurrence

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Comments on how Teachers felt

• After verbal or physical insults, there is always
  the aftermath raised blood pressure,
  frustration, annoyance, unsettled state it takes
  time to recover sense of normality, etc. (P33)
• Verbal abuse is so common at my school, it
  normally washes over me. Sometimes I write it up,
  sometimes I don't. On a bad day, I feel angry,
  upset, frustrated - at not working in a school
  where there is more 'respect' etc. I also feel
  such verbal abuse is symptomatic of negative
  changes in society. (P50)
• Vulnerable, as though there was no one, no policy
  to protect me. I was alone in what I did and had
  to stick up for myself (P 224)

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Some other findings

• Issues such as support, training and reporting
  mechanisms were also explored
• Nearly 60 reported having received support, 30
  stated they did not
• Support received from management colleagues,
  outside agencies
• While 60 reported good or adequate support, just
  over 30 poor or mixed response
• Just over 60 had never received training but a
  high proportion would like to have
• Again about two thirds stated that reporting
  mechanism were available.

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Concluding Comments

• Serious Incidents of violence rare but verbal
  abuse, threatening behaviour and physical actions
  were a concern for respondents
• Led to negative emotions for Teachers and can
  impact upon how they see their job
• Issues arising are that no one way of recording
  incidents experienced of Teachers
• Wider issues such as training, management
  response also seem to impact upon how Teachers
  feel about their experience, very varied
  according to individual- some having positive but
  also negative experience