One in five teachers who were physically or verbally victimized at school did not tell their administrators, .
The study, which included responses from 2,505 K-12 teachers across the country who had experienced an incident of violence at school, found that some teachers who were victimized also didn鈥檛 tell their family (24 percent) or their colleagues (14 percent). Only 12 percent received counseling.
Most of the teachers said they were victimized by a student, but some said they were victimized by a parent or a colleague.
In the 2015-16 school year, 5.8 percent of the nation鈥檚 3.8 million teachers were physically attacked by a student, according to federal education data. Almost 10 percent were threatened with injury. Past research has found that these assaults can have negative consequences for teachers鈥攔anging from performing poorly at their jobs to quitting the teaching profession.
鈥淰iolence against teachers isn鈥檛 talked about a lot,鈥� said Eric Anderman, the lead author of the new study and a professor of educational psychology at The Ohio State University. He was surprised that thousands of respondents were so willing to be candid: 鈥淭his is one of the only times in my career that people came flocking to us and said, 鈥榊es, we want to tell our stories, we want to talk about this,鈥欌�� he said.
The study was published in the journal Social Psychology of Education and was funded by the American Psychological Association鈥檚 Center for Psychology in Schools and Education. The two major teachers鈥� unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, assisted with the online survey, which was disseminated three times over a five-month period.
Researchers asked teachers to describe 鈥渢he most upsetting incident鈥� at school in which they were the target of students鈥� verbal or physical aggression or intimidation. One-quarter of the teachers reported actual physical abuse or assault, 20 percent reported threats of physical violence, and 37 percent described verbal insults, disrespectful language, or inappropriate sexual advances.
Physical abuse or assault was more likely to occur among elementary teachers, while more middle and high school teachers reported receiving threats of physical violence or verbal abuse.
Eight percent of teachers were most upset by a perceived lack of support from school leaders and colleagues鈥攆or example, when a student who threatened to harm a teacher received only a trivial punishment.
鈥淭hat really surprised us,鈥� Anderman said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 see that coming.鈥�
When he was a high school teacher, a student threatened him. 鈥淚 went to the administration, and I was not supported,鈥� Anderman said. 鈥淚 was very bitter and angry.鈥�
Past research has found that teachers who feel supported by their administrators and think that their colleagues who enforce the rules consistently are less likely to be the victims of threats or attacks.
Additional Questions
In this study, respondents were asked to describe how they felt after the incident. Teachers who reported feeling upset (scared or crying) were less likely to tell anyone else about the incident, but teachers who felt angry were more likely to tell their colleagues or their family. Anderman said he wasn鈥檛 sure why that is鈥攑ossibly because teachers who felt upset were worried the incident would make them look weak or ineffective at their job.
When teachers blamed their own behavior鈥攂elieving they could have avoided the incident had they did something different鈥攖hey were much less likely to tell their colleagues, which Anderman attributed to probable feelings of embarrassment.
The study opened up many future research questions, he said鈥攊ncluding about the long-term effects of violence against teachers and strategies teachers can use to avoid attacks.
鈥淲e need to pay more attention to [violence against teachers],鈥� Anderman said. 鈥淲e need to give teachers a place to talk about this.鈥�
He and his colleagues are exploring setting up a national registry where teachers can report their experiences, even if they are anonymous.
Some state legislators across the country have introduced bills to increase punitive measures toward students who attack teachers. Those bills are typically controversial within the education community, with educators and researchers saying that more effective teacher training and administrative support would be better tactics.