Mitigating violence directed at teachers: a narrative inquiry.

Abstract

Violence directed at teachers has become a pervasive problem with long-term consequences for teachers and educational outcomes. The issue of violence directed at teachers warrants urgent attention. All those within the school environment, learners, teachers, heads of departments, deputy principals, principals, and support personnel, should feel safe when they are in the school environment. In the same way, learner safety is prioritised within the school environment, teachers’ safety within the classroom and school should also be prioritised so that they can confidently perform their duties. This study is a collective case study of two schools couched within the interpretivist paradigm. This paradigm was suitable for understanding teachers' experiences of violence that is directed at them and the consequences thereof. The study adopted qualitative data generation methods, which included narrative interviews. For the interviews, a purposive sampling of the participants was adopted; there was no set formula rigidly applied to determine the sample size. The study adopted the social cognitive theory. Findings provide evidence of the high rate of violence directed at teachers, especially when accounting for both physical and non-physical forms of violence. The findings established that verbal violence was the most common form of violence that is directed at teachers. Furthermore, it was found that most of the teachers were negatively affected by the violence directed at them, with significant repercussions for their wellbeing. Recommendations made were that there should be a comprehensive approach to addressing violence directed at teachers. Teachers should be trained in classroom management and crisis intervention. Individual intervention strategies should be recommended for learners with serious behavioural problems. Furthermore, there should be an explicit school policy and effective strategy to handle issues of violence directed at teachers. The study concluded that violence directed at teachers is exceptionally prevalent. Moreover, it is complex, multi-dimensional, and dynamic, and it also negatively affects educational outcomes. Mitigating violence directed at teachers should a critical component of school violence programs.