With school violence on the rise in Ontario, an anonymous teacher recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to describe the physical challenges he faces daily in the classroom.
The thread, posted Tuesday afternoon, details the exact type of violence many teachers faced in a bombshell survey conducted by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (EFTO) earlier this year.
“For the first time in my career, I feel unsafe at work. The violence is out of control. As teachers, when we walk down the hallway we have between 1 and 6 kids screaming ‘fucking bitches’, ‘I fuck’. I fuck hateful teacher bitches.’ “Children I have never met,” the teacher wrote.
They also claimed to have witnessed other teachers being repeatedly kicked, bitten and punched by students.
When we are on duty in the garden, children come to us and tell us that they are being hurt by these other children. When we try to approach, they respond with “Fuck you bitch,” point the finger, and walk away. What should we do? How do we make these children feel safe? I don’t feel safe. (3/5)
— 𝑀𝒾𝒹𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒜𝑒𝓈 𝒮𝑒𝒹𝒶𝒾 (@OntarioTeache12) October 17, 2023
“This is simply not sustainable and filling out incident reports feels completely useless at this point,” the post said. “And what I find even scarier is that my school is only K-3! I can’t even begin to understand the problems that arise in middle and high school.”
EFTO’s 2023 All-Member Violence Survey found that an alarming number of members (77 percent) report having experienced or witnessed violence against another member of staff, with those working in special education being most affected are.
The administrator is overwhelmed and does not have the resources to even deal with this situation. No suspension k-3 and 1/year in grade 4+? I’m sure this policy makes sense on paper, but at ground level it does NOT work. There needs to be a solution to take the hands off administrators in a meaningful way. (4/5)
— 𝑀𝒾𝒹𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒜𝑒𝓈 𝒮𝑒𝒹𝒶𝒾 (@OntarioTeache12) October 17, 2023
According to the survey, 86 percent of EFTO members who work in special education say they have experienced or witnessed violence against another staff member.
Additionally, 72 percent of members say the number of violent incidents has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 42 percent of members also report that they have suffered a physical injury, illness or psychological injury/illness as a result of workplace violence.
This is heartbreaking and shocking.
We’ve seen a decline in good behavior among adults in recent years, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised if we see this affecting children too.
I’m sorry you’re experiencing this.
— Em.Gee (@ThreeFuzzyBears) October 18, 2023
“The findings are alarming and concerning and action must be taken at provincial and school board levels,” said EFTO President Karon Brown. “The survey results may shock the public, but they come as no surprise to EFTO members.”
Brown also said the survey found that Indigenous, female, disabled and LGBTQ+ teachers were more likely to have experienced some form of physical violence.
This definitely happens in primary schools (I can confirm it happens in NB too). Worse, parents will very quickly blame schools for their children’s behavior. It is a major burden on our health in more ways than one and is causing many teachers to leave the profession. 😔
— Chrissy Tea-Gun (Pew Pew) (@Chrissy19993) October 18, 2023
Reacting to the report’s findings, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said violence “starts at home” and encouraged students to respect teachers.
“You have a hard job. The children, you have to pull yourself together,” he said. “If you ask me about introducing policing in schools, I think decisions have already been made. That is why we will always work to ensure that teachers ensure that violence never occurs in our schools.”
I don’t want to be a teacher these days. You are in a very difficult situation.
— Lisette Kaip (@KaipLisette) October 18, 2023
The union currently represents approximately 83,000 members, including public elementary school teachers, occasional teachers, designated early childhood educators, teaching support staff and professional support staff.
Following the report, the union stressed that there is an urgent need for more educational assistants, psychologists, special education teachers, school counselors, behavior therapists, child and youth workers and speech therapists in the province.
The viral thread comes just a day before Ontario’s public elementary school teachers voted 95 per cent in favor of a strike mandate while negotiations continue.