The Effects Of Peer Violence On Teachers

Superior Essays
When we consider what comes to mind when we hear the words ‘children’ and ‘violence,’ we tend to develop two completely different pictures. While children are often associated with innocence, love, joy, and happiness; violence is associated with hitting, killing, fighting, and deviant behavior. However, children committing acts of violence remain a major problem in our society. While there is some awareness about sibling abuse, parent abuse, and peer abuse; abuse against teachers is unheard of and rarely discussed among educators. Although many people cannot fathom how a teacher could be abused by a student, it occurs on a daily basis and has led to a number of problems, not just for teachers, but for school communities as a …show more content…
In fact, nearly one in four public school teachers claimed to have avoided one or more specific areas where they were employed out of concern for their safety (Stewart & Robles-Piña, 2008, p. 10). Studies have found that while seven percent of teachers have been threatened with injury by a student at their school, four percent have been physically attacked (McMahon et al., 2014, p. 754). However, another study has found that up to 80 percent of teachers reported at least one victimization experience in the current or previous year, with 94 percent of these experiences being perpetrated by students (Espelage et al., 2013, p. 76; McMahon et al., 2014, p. 757). This study also provided the victimization rates of teachers who experienced different offenses. The most common type of offense was harassment, which impacted 73 percent of teachers, followed by property offenses and physical offenses, which impacted 54 percent and 44 percent of teachers, respectively (McMahon et al., 2014, p. 758). Furthermore, male teachers and teachers in urban settings have higher rates of victimization whereas African American teachers have lower rates of victimization (McMahon et al., 2014, p. 757). Large class sizes also had an effect on teacher victimization rates (Gerberich et al., 2011, p. 298). Additionally, 71 percent of physical assaults against …show more content…
I find that many of the problems seen with students abusing teachers can also be observed with children abusing their parents. I believe that just as parents who are abused feel shame at their inability to control their children, teachers also share similar feelings when they cannot control a student. Also, just how children who abuse their parents grow up in a context of domestic violence, the aforementioned researchers have found that students who abuse their teachers experienced similar circumstances (Gosselin, 2014, p. 153). In an effort to control student violence against teachers, there are a variety of practices that must be implemented. First of all, faculty and staff must set school-wide expectations that are consistent, fair, and will apply to every person in the school community (Espelage et al., 2013, pp. 80-81; McMahon et al., 2014, p. 764). Additionally, time needs to be set aside for all school personnel to learn how to handle violent situations with students. For instance, the ABC (antecedent-behavior-consequence) model has been shown to effectively prevent violence directed towards teachers. Furthermore, functional assessment-based interventions have been helpful because they target why problem behaviors occur in the first place (Espelage et al., 2013, p. 77). District administrators should also take all reports

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