Half of all teachers experience aggression in schools: poll

Educators are reporting more incidents of aggression from students and parents, according to a survey conducted by the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA).

According to the survey, which heard from 2,148 teachers and school leaders in Alberta, 52 per cent of teachers said they had experienced bullying or violence at schools. The majority of the aggression happened in person and 60 per cent of incidents occurred in the teachers' own classrooms.

ATA president Jason Schilling said teachers are sharing “disturbing” comments of being hit, threatened and yelled at by students. He attributes this increased classroom aggression to a number of societal changes, including reports of negative comments made by parents and students with respect to race and gender identity.

“This is not OK, and it should not be acceptable in our schools and in our classrooms,” Schilling said.

“My colleagues have shared with me many stories of acts of aggression that they've experienced, and these stories are disturbing. One story of a teacher being harmed in the classroom is one too many within the last year.”

Schilling cites other contributing factors like the pandemic and social media. He said the influence of the pandemic paired with the use of social media and “culture wars” has resulted in a “decline in empathy and compassion.”

When it comes to feeling prepared to de-escalate potentially aggressive situations, 32 per cent of school leaders and 63 per cent of teachers indicated that they have never received that kind of training. More than half of respondents, 55 per cent, said they did not feel comfortable in their ability to effectively de-escalate a situation that might escalate to aggression.

In a statement to Postmedia, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said he has been in contact with the ATA about skills and competencies teachers feel they are lacking. While he didn't state any concrete plans, he says they are still looking to continue the discussion and find a solution.

“We recognize that today's classrooms are becoming more and more complex, which is why we provide $44 million through the classroom complexity grant,” Nicolaides said. “I am particularly interested to see what we can do to build the skills our teachers need to de-escalate and diffuse complex situations.”

Schilling said some school boards will run special training for non-violent crisis intervention, but those are predominately for elementary school teachers, not high school teachers. Teachers will often have to look for external professional development opportunities either through the ATA or on their own.

“It is definitely an area that we need to draw attention to and we need to ensure that our staff have the ability to learn how to de-escalate situations because it does have an impact on instructional time in classrooms. But it also has an impact on the mental health factors of our students and our colleagues in our classrooms,” Schilling said.

Schilling says there are long-standing systemic issues at play as well, like larger class sizes and the complexity of increasingly diverse needs. He called on the government to address these systemic challenges, such as underfunding and understaffing, to create a better educational environment.

Of the teachers surveyed, 61 per cent reported increased class sizes compared to the 2022-23 school year. For teachers with more than 30 students, 39 per cent said their classes ranged from 32 to 37 students on average. Some high school courses like physical education reported sometimes having upwards of 50 students.

When it came to supports for students with exceptional needs, 57 per cent of teachers and school leaders noted a decrease in supports this school year compared to 2022-23.