An article published by the American Psychological Association reports an alarming increase in rates of violence against teachers and provides recommendation for their safely.
Reported cases of violence against teachers in schools and colleges in the U.S. have been growing at an alarming rate and the article "Understanding and Preventing Violence Directed Against Teachers: Recommendations for a National Research, Practice, and Policy Agenda," published in APA's flagship journal, American Psychologist addresses the issue, providing recommendations for the safety of both teachers and students.
"Violence directed against teachers is a national crisis with far-reaching implications and deserves inclusion in the school violence equation," said the article's lead author, Dorothy Espelage, PhD, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign. "We are proposing that any comprehensive examination of school violence must consider the complex dynamics that affect teachers and other school personnel as well as students, parents and the entire community."
According to the articles, threats received by teachers have been an issue that's received minimum attention with only 14 studies on this matter being carried out up to date. Of these 14 studies, five were conducted on teachers in America, while the other nine were conducted internationally.
When APA conducted a similar study, they found 80 percent of the teachers who took part in the study were subjected to such instances, either in the current year or the year prior to that. Out of the lot, 94 percent of the teachers said that they had been threatened by students - 72 percent were victims of harassment, 44 percent were physically attacked while 50 percent reported property damages or theft.
The article provides recommendations on how to avoid such situations. First off, each teacher should be required to "master classroom management training before they are licensed to teach."
"Because professional training typically does not prepare teachers to deal with violence at school, most lack the skills to prevent challenging behavior from occurring and to respond effectively when it does occur. As such, many teachers have been shocked by frequent violent occurrences in our nation's schools during recent years and the far-reaching implications of violence," Espelage said.
The next recommendation is to have facilities in school that analyze the problematic behavior of a child and the reason behind it instead of stopping it after the incident happened.
The article was published January 7.
