Teachers’ Perceptions and Experiences of Violence at Work: 12 Months on

Jane Healy, Nicola Mackenzie and Denise Martin

April 2008

Project Overview

• ESRC funded 12 month project• Support of National Union of Teachers (NUT)• Examination of secondary school teachers’

perceptions of violence at work, in North London and Hertfordshire

• Qualitative and quantitative methodology used through questionnaires, interviews and focus groups

History• Increasing concerns about the levels of

violence in schools over the past decade (Smith 2003)

• International Observatory on Violence in Schools

• Much research on violence in schools has focused on pupil-pupil and bullying

• Research on violence towards teachers tends to be survey based and quantitative in nature

Recent Research• HSE (2004): violent assaults by pupils on school staff

increased by a third in 2004• Teacher Support Network (2005): 84% verbal abuse by

pupils; 29% physical assaulted by pupils; 12% abused or assaulted by parents

• TSN (2007): 92% verbal abuse, of which 47% were threats• Neill (2001): 37% pushed/touched; 34.5% threatened with

physical violence by pupils• Neill (2008): Overall patterns of disruptive behaviour in

2008 were similar to 2001. • Association of Teachers and Lecturers (2008): a third of

teachers experienced physical aggression and half knew someone who had left the profession because of it.

Defining Workplace Violence

• No agreed definition of workplace violence – e.g. Bowie 2002, Waddington et al 2006, Stanko 2003

• “Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work as a secondary school teacher, that was perpetrated by pupils, colleagues or members of the public.”

• Based on the definitions used by the Health and Safety Executive and the National Association of Headteachers

Capturing Data

• Three stages to the research: postal questionnaires, interviews and focus groups

• Questionnaire sent to 2,100 NUT members in North London, Hertfordshire and Essex: 275 returned, 13% response rate

• Interviews with 17 teachers in 3 schools• Two focus groups with teachers in 1 school• Dates for interviews/focus group to be confirmed

with one more school• Analysis on interviews and focus groups is ongoing

Sampling Issues

• Series of postal strikes in 2007• Accessing schools: – Problems with NUT– 179 schools contacted via emails/phone/letters– 66 No– 9 Yes: 3 interviews conducted; 1 in process; 3

stated no staff interest; 2 unable to finalise dates

Questionnaire DemographicsQuestionnaire NUT*

Gender FemaleMale

68%32%

76%24%

Age 21-3031-4041-5051-6060+Unknown

27.3%27.9%21.4%21.9%0.4%1.1%

22.9%26.5%21.7%22.1%2.8%4.1%

* As of April 2008

Results: Questionnaires• 91% respondents had experienced violence• Direct v Indirect • Types of violence experienced:

Participants

Type of Violence N= %

Verbal abuse 230 92.0

Threats against you 145 58.0

Threats against property 73 29.2

Non-verbal intimidation 147 58.8

Physical assault 170 68.0

Sexual assault 5 2.0

Other 35 14.0

Data Analysis: Types of Violence

• Statistically significant findings thus far:– Men are more likely to experience threats against them

than women (χ2=13.292, df=1, p=0.000)

– Men are more likely to experience threats against their property than women (χ2=4.110, df=1, p=0.031)

– Men are more likely to take precautionary measures than women (χ2=5.345, df=1, p=0.014)

• No significant differences were found by age

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)

• Name calling. Racist comments. Homophobic comments ... Damage to car on school premises.(P49)

Effects of Violence on TeachersEmotions N % Emotions N %

Anger 85 15.4 Embarrassed 20 3.6

Shock 75 13.6 Demoralised 16 2.9

Unsupported 64 11.6 Little Effect 15 2.7

Upset 57 10.3 Stress 13 2.4

Fear 53 9.6 Physical reaction 11 2.0

Sad 32 5.8 Supported 11 2.0

Frustrated 29 5.3 Abuse 9 1.6

Self-doubt 27 4.9 Tired 7 1.3

Concern 23 4.2 Left work 4 0.7

Total 551 100

Examples of 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 (P224)

Interviews/Focus Groups Demographics

Interviews Focus Groups

Gender Male 9 3

Female 8 6

Age 20-29 2 -

30-39 3 -

40-49 4 -

50+ 5 -

Not stated 3 9

Total Participants 17 9

Comments : Interviews /Focus Groups

• [At previous school I’ve] had situations where I’ve had to restrain students from physically attacking other students not members of staff and that’s always a really difficult position to be in…

• it was after my first [school] experience that I’ve decided to do supply… Like one pupil I remember was actually 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, that’s 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…

Data: Emerging Themes Reporting Mechanisms

• Employer response: – Positive feedback: sanctions, exclusions, student

support, staff support, clear policies – Negative feedback: inconsistent, insufficient, teacher

blame, repeated demands for response, lack of communication

• Recommendations: – Immediacy of response – Consistency across policies and staff– De-briefing & feedback

What do Teachers want? • More/better training– behaviour management, conflict resolution, crowd-

control, physical restraint, self-defence• Preventative measures– Alarms, on-call system, CCTV, security features– School ethos, attitudes & approaches, teamwork

• Clarification of legal position– Use of reasonable force– Stop and search – Teachers’ rights & pupils’ responsibilities

Concluding Comments • No significant differences between age and gender for

most forms of workplace violence • Serious incidents of violence are rare but verbal abuse,

threatening behaviour and physical actions were a concern for respondents

• Can lead to negative emotions for teachers and can impact upon how they see their job

• Wider issues such as training and management response impact upon how Teachers feel about their experience

END OF PRESENTATION!

Use of Reasonable ForceThe Education and Inspections Act 2006 states that a person: “may use force as is reasonable in the circumstances for the purpose of preventing a

pupil from doing (or continuing to do) any of the following, namely: (a) committing any offence,(b) causing personal injury to, or damage to the property of, any person (including the

pupil himself), or (c) prejudicing the maintenance of good order and discipline at the school or among any

pupils receiving education at the school, whether during a teaching session or otherwise.”

– Statistically significant – newly qualified teachers are less likely to use reasonable force (χ2=13.162, df=5, p=0.022)