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A comparison of general and special educators' experiences with teacher‐directed aggression and violence
Abstract
Teacher‐directed violence has been acknowledged as a major issue in research over the past decade. Teacher‐directed violence is the over‐arching term used to describe teachers' experiences with physical violence and aggression (i.e., harassment, intimidation, verbal threats). This study is the first to quantitatively compare general education and special education teachers' experiences with violence from a variety of aggressors, including students, parents, colleagues, and administrators. Understanding the unique experiences of special and general educators is needed to inform intervention and prevention efforts focused on teacher‐directed violence. Data from 2363 teachers who participated in a national study in the United States examining teachers' experiences with violence and aggression were analyzed using multiple logistic regression. Comparisons of special and general educators revealed special educators were more likely to report experiencing aggression in the current or past year. Special educators were also more likely to report violence by student aggressors, while general educators were more likely to report violence by parent aggressors. Further, teacher demographic characteristics (i.e., age, gender, race/ethnicity, years of experience) and school setting (i.e., rural, urban, suburban) influenced experiences of teacher‐directed violence for both general and special educators. Findings suggest the need for future longitudinal and mixed‐methods studies, providing more educators, training, and supports in special education settings, and incorporating all school stakeholders in school‐wide interventions.
... In our study, the primary individual-level precursor to weapon violence against teachers was the student aggressor being classified as receiving special education services, having an emotional disorder, a behavioral disorder, or any combination of these factors. Previous research indicates special educators report higher rates of student violence against them compared to general educators (Zinter et al., 2024). The current findings build upon this research, suggesting weapon violence is an important subtype of violence that occurs within this population and offers insight regarding the pathways to weapon violence against teachers. ...
Weapon violence in schools is a pressing concern with serious consequences. In this study, we propose and evaluate a theoretical framework of school-based weapon violence comprised of contributors, triggers, and motivation leading to weapon behaviors, taking into account weapon type, origin, and availability. This framework provides a foundation to investigate the multifaceted nature of weapon violence in schools. Specifically, we examine the weapon violence experiences of 417 U.S. teachers based on their reports of their most upsetting experiences with violence in their schools from various aggressors (i.e., students, parents, colleagues). Qualitative open-ended survey data were coded in NVivo after achieving strong interrater reliability (Gwet’s agreement coefficient with first-order chance correction, AC1 = .97; κ = .80), and analyses were guided by the proposed theoretical framework. Results indicated that individual, school, peer, family, and community conditions contributed to situational triggers (teacher or other school-stakeholder actions), and aggressor motivation was typically instrumental or expressive. The type and origin of weapons also played a role in weapon behaviors of carrying, threats, and usage. Aggressors often used readily available objects (e.g., chair, pencil) as weapons against teachers in addition to traditional weapons (e.g., knives, guns). Findings suggest that weapon violence in schools requires a broader conceptualization beyond traditional weapons and violence between students. This study advances our understanding of pathways to weapon behaviors for prevention and intervention. Implications of findings for school-stakeholder training and policies are discussed.
... The growing reports of cyberbullying focused on teachers are confirmed and demonstrated by researchers from all parts of the word (Ben-Hayun & Zysberg, 2023;Kopecký & Szotkowski, 2017;Zinter et al., 2024). ...
The twin phenomena of cyberbullying and cyberaggression are among the most common e-threats. Today, much is known about the aggression and violence mediated by new media and targeted at students. However, there is still an empirical gap in the consideration of the mechanisms and forms of cyberaggression and cyberbullying targeting teachers. The aim of this study is to present 10 types of cyber-attacks that teachers have been subjected to in Poland in the last few years. The types of attacks presented include vilification in the information space (forums and social networking sites), direct attack using social networks, recording teachers without their consent, online blackmail, creation and dissemination of memes, photomontage, latent cyberbullying, destructive actions in the COVID-19 period, the creation of fake profiles, and the use of a digital tool in an offline environment. The subject of the study was the statements of post-secondary school graduates who had encountered such phenomena. The article highlights the need to increase digital safety for teachers.
Teachers as victims of aggression seldom become focus of psychological research. However, teacher-directed violence has become a socially relevant phenomenon. Revealing the causes of teacher-directed aggression should at the core of antibullying programs. To identify these causes, psychologists need to study teachers’ experience and insights. The authors compared causes of teacher-directed aggression as perceived by teachers with their accounts of students’ aggression experience. The research relied on the methods of principal component analysis and Pearson’s correlation analysis. The sample consisted of 5,350 teachers from nine regions of the Russian Federation. Most respondents believed teacher-directed aggression to be caused by the dysfunctional family or parents’ disrespect of the teaching staff. The causes were divided into teacher-related, environmental, and intrapersonal. These variables correlated with teachers’ experience of student aggression. The phenomenon of teacher-directed aggression should be taken into account in violence prevention programs aimed at ensuring safety and well-being of both teachers and students.
Teachers experience verbal and physical aggression from a variety of aggressors in schools worldwide. However, most school violence and aggression research is focused on students, with few empirical studies examining teacher aggression from parent offenders. This study investigated the school ecology associated with teachers’ experiences of aggression from students’ parents. We applied and adapted a school climate framework to examine the qualitative survey responses of 450 United States teachers who reported their most upsetting experiences involving parent aggression. Using a directed content analysis approach, teacher victimization was examined through the four school climate domains of safety, academic, institutional environment, and community. Significant socioemotional and physical safety concerns regarding verbal and physical aggression from parents, often related to school discipline practices, were identified. In the academic domain, parent aggression was associated with parent–teacher disagreements regarding grades and services, challenges with administrative leadership, and job stability concerns. The institutional environment domain illustrated where incidents took place, school resources, and policies regarding security and student placement as key factors in parent aggression. Results from the community domain highlighted issues of communication, mistrust, negative attitudes, accountability, diversity, and neighborhood and societal factors. Teacher experiences and exemplar themes provide context and further elaborate upon the school climate framework. Implications for research, school practice, and policy are presented.
Much research has been dedicated to supporting school communities in combating the problem of school violence. However, violence directed toward teachers is under‐investigated, and knowledge of how to support teachers is limited. This qualitative study used conventional content analysis to assess teachers' recommendations for preventing and improving the response to teacher‐directed violence. The sample included 245 prekindergarten through 12th grade teachers, all of whom experienced school violence and participated in a larger national survey study on violence against teachers. Using a social‐ecological framework and conventional content analysis, teacher recommendations for addressing teacher victimization were identified and organized at the individual, school, community, and society levels. Themes around conflict resolution strategies; improving policies, resources, and relationships with administrators; increasing parental involvement; and changing culture and laws were highlighted. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.
Objective: The prevalence of verbal aggression in schools is well documented; however, most of this research focuses on verbal aggression between students. Examination of student verbal aggression toward teachers is limited. This qualitative investigation explores events that frequently precede and follow student verbal aggression toward teachers using an antecedent-behavior-consequence (A-B-C) framework. Method: The sample includes 98 prekindergarten through 12th-grade teachers who experienced verbal aggression from a student and identified an antecedent and consequence of the incident. Conventional content analysis was conducted to identify common types of verbal aggression, antecedents, consequences, and A-B-C patterns among teacher-directed verbal aggression incidents perpetrated by students. Results: Findings reveal threats were the most common type of verbal aggression and varied across developmental level, with high school teachers reporting more threats than elementary teachers. In terms of A-B-C patterns, student verbal aggression was precipitated by disciplinary action; the aggression then led to the student’s removal from the classroom or school, school staff becoming involved, or a positive outcome (e.g., an apology or a service provision). Teacher directives (e.g., requesting a student to sit down or complete classwork) led to verbal aggression, resulting in administrative inaction. Finally, academic performance–related situations (e.g., grades) led to verbal aggression followed by student removal. Conclusions: Common antecedents, consequences, and patterns suggest strategies for preventing and addressing verbal aggression, such as training for teachers and administrators, effective classroom rules, facilitation of student engagement, and improved discipline policies and practices.
Objective: Violence directed against teachers is a public health issue that warrants attention in research and practice. There is a growing literature on teacher-directed violence that has examined the prevalence of these incidents, yet there is considerable variation across studies. There is a need for a systematic and comprehensive review to assess the extent of the problem. Method: In the current study, we identified 5,337 articles through our initial screening process, and our final analysis included 24 studies that met criteria for this meta-analysis. We examined prevalence of violence perpetrated against teachers by students and how these rates varied by reporting time frame, reporter, and type of violence. Results: The prevalence of any type of teacher-reported violence victimization within ≤ 2 years ranged from 20% to 75% with a pooled prevalence of 53%. The prevalence according to a career time frame was lower, ranging from 32% to 40% with a pooled prevalence of 37.79%. Results also show variation in prevalence according to victimization type (e.g., physical attacks or theft of personal property), with lower prevalence rates for more intrusive types of victimization. Conclusions: This study represents the first meta-analysis investigating the prevalence of student violence directed against teachers. Findings provide evidence of the high rate of violence directed toward teachers, especially when accounting for both physical and nonphysical forms of violence. Teacher victimization appears to be an international problem, suggesting that the discourse by policymakers and practitioners should be framed within an international context while also considering local nuances.
Aggression is a phenomenon that can take many forms, ranging from relatively minor acts (such as name calling or pushing) to more serious acts (such as hitting, kicking, or punching) to severe acts (such as stabbing, shooting, or killing). The fact that aggression appears in so many forms can sometimes make it difficult to determine whether or not aggression has occurred. To further complicate matters, as is the case for many psychological constructs,
there is often a divide between the general public’s notions of aggression and violence and the definitions used by scientists. Frequently, the word “aggression” is used in ways that do not
meet the scientific social–psychological definition. For example, people may describe an energetic and persistent salesman as “aggressive,” exhort their soccer players to “be more aggressive,”
or characterize rapid changes in mood as “violent.” Medical afflictions and treatments are also sometimes described as aggressive (e.g., an aggressive tumor, aggressive chemotherapy). None of these examples, however, meet social–psychological definitions of aggression or violence. This chapter focuses on answering the question “What are aggression and violence?” by describing in detail what constitutes aggression and violence according to social–psychological research. It also outlines the many forms that aggression can take in order to help readers distinguish between subtypes of aggression. Finally, similar but distinct concepts that are sometimes confused with aggression and violence are described so that readers can better distinguish between these concepts.
Learner-to-teacher bullying is a focus area that has not been widely researched. The current research, underpinned by the ecosystemic paradigm, examined the proportion of teachers who reported exposure to bullying by learners. The study was carried out by using the Learner-to-teacher Bullying Questionnaire developed for this research. Additionally, the potential effect that learner-to-teacher bullying may have on teachers’ experience of mental health was investigated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Questionnaire. In a convenience sample consisting of 153 public secondary school teachers in the Tshwane area, 62.1% of the teachers reported exposure to verbal bullying, 34.6% to physical bullying, 27% to indirect bullying, and 6.6% to cyber bullying. Mann-Whitney U Tests were performed and indicated significant differences in teachers’ mean anxiety and depression scores across the four types of learner-to-teacher bullying. Learner-to-teacher bullying can result in negative emotions, disempowerment, low morale, and low motivation of various roleplayers in the school system. It is thus of vital importance to protect teachers, create adequate resources to eliminate learner-to-teacher bullying, and work towards improving teachers’ mental health. © 2018, South African Journal of Education. All rights reserved.
Violence perpetrated against teachers is prevalent and has the potential to adversely affect teachers’ well-being, efficacy, and longevity in the profession. In this study, we examined teachers’ reactions after having experienced violence, specifically examining the roles of attributional processes. In collaboration with the American Psychological Association, National Education Association, and American Federation of Teachers, data were collected via a survey instrument from teachers across the United States. We examined responses from 2505 participants who described the most upsetting incident of violence that had been perpetrated against them in their roles as teachers. We examined predictors of (1) communicating with others after the incident and (2) implementing intervention strategies with the perpetrators of violence. Emotions were tested as mediators of the relations between attributions and outcomes. Results indicated that characterological and behavioral self-blame were predictive of negative affect, which in turn predicted the majority of outcomes. Study limitations and implications for research and practice are discussed.
This report covers topics such as victimization, teacher injury, bullying and cyber-bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions. Indicators of crime and safety are compared across different population subgroups and over time. Data on crimes that occur away from school are offered as a point of comparison where available.
This article reports on the nature of workplace bullying experienced by teachers in South African schools and the biopsychosocial health effects that may arise from such victimisation. Voluntary victimised teachers who wanted to share their experiences were sampled using a lifestyle magazine and online articles. Twenty-seven teachers participated in the study. Data was collected through telephonic semi-structured phenomenological interviews and personal documents. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was further used to analyse and interpret qualitative data. Findings indicated that bullying is mostly perpetrated by principals, who often use colleagues as accomplices, and that the bullying mostly tends to be psychological in nature. Participants reported experiencing various physical, psychological and social health problems after being victimised. It was further recognised that health problems do not occur in isolation, but if contextualised, may form part of a list of psychiatric conditions, such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and in isolated cases, panic attacks. Victimised teachers’ health may have a significant impact on the teaching-learning process, acting as a barrier to learning, which may consequently have a negative impact on the organisational culture and the South African emerging economy. © 2015, Foundation for Education Science and Technology. All rights reserved.
Teacher burnout occurs when teachers undergoing stress for long periods of time experience emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment (Maslach, 2003). Outcomes associated with burnout include teacher attrition, teacher health issues, and negative student outcomes. Special educators are at high risk for burnout, as their working conditions align with many factors associated with burnout. In this review, we updated the literature on special education teacher working conditions by reviewing studies (N = 23) that (a) included a quantitative measure of burnout and (b) focused on special education teachers as participants. An analysis of the studies reviewed provided a clear base of support for the association between burnout and a range of variables from the individual, classroom, school, and district levels. Bronfenbrenner's (1977) Ecological Model supplied the organization framework for the range of variables. Teacher experience, student disability, role conflict, role ambiguity, and administrative support were particularly salient factors in special education teacher burnout. Important gaps in the research are discussed, future directions for researchers are outlined, and implications for teachers and other practitioners are provided.
Educational policy and the school effectiveness movement often involve rhetoric about the benefit of parent involvement in schools, but high-quality relationships between parents and teachers are not always straightforwardly achieved, and this may be particularly true in the case of parents of children presenting with academic problems and/or social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. A systematic review of qualitative research was conducted to explore the school-related experiences of parents of pupils diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Six studies reported in seven papers met the inclusion criteria. High-quality parent–teacher relationships were found to be the exception, with mothers feeling silenced and criticised. Findings show commonalities with wider research about parents, but identify additional grounds for conflict resulting from parental blame for pupils' disruptive behaviour, and the ambivalent nature of the concept of ADHD.
We explored the perceptions that youth with and without self-reported mental health problems had of their social contexts (family, peer, and school) and the extent to which youth with mental health problems had received special education services in school. We examined data for 4,088 urban youth with self-reported externalizing, internalizing, comorbid, and no mental health problems in early adolescence. With regard to family context, students with comorbid problems reported significantly lower scores for parent attention to misbehavior than students without mental health problems, and students with internalizing problems reported significantly less positive parent-child relations than those with externalizing problems. With regard to peer context, students with externalizing and comorbid problems reported that significantly greater numbers of their friends were involved in risky behavior than did members of the other groups. With regard to school context, students with internalizing and comorbid problems reported feeling more anonymous and less well-liked by peers and teachers than students with externalizing problems. Significantly more internalizers and members of the comorbid group were in special education classes than expected. The majority of the students with self-reported mental health problems received services for learning disabilities.
Researchers have the implicit option of calculating internal consistency reliability (coefficient α) for total scale scores derived from multidimensional inventories based on either the inter-item correlation matrix (item unit-level) or the inter-subscale correlation matrix (subscale unit-level). It is demonstrated that item unit-level and subscale unit-level reliability estimates often diverge substantially in practice. Specifically, the item unit-level reliability estimation is often larger than the corresponding subscale unit-level estimate. It is recommended that if researchers calculate total scale score reliability at the item unit-level, then a model-based approach to the estimation of internal consistency reliability (i.e., omega hierarchical) should be applied, when the underlying model is multidimensional. If omega hierarchical cannot be applied for any particular reason, it is recommended that total scale score reliabilities be calculated at the subscale unit-level of analysis, not the item unit-level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
When studied separately, research shows that both teacher self-efficacy and teacher autonomy are associated with adaptive motivational and emotional outcomes. This study tested whether teacher self-efficacy and teacher autonomy are independently associated with engagement, job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. 2,569 Norwegian teachers in elementary school and middle school (719 men, 1,850 women; M age = 45.0 yr., SD = 11.5) were administered the Norwegian Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale, the Teacher Autonomy Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The analysis revealed that both teacher autonomy and self-efficacy were independent predictors of engagement, job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. This study suggests that autonomy or decision latitude works positively but through different processes for teachers with high and low mastery expectations.
Recent federal legislation is affecting how special educators assess students, select curricula, document growth, teach, and consult-in short, how they spend their time during a school day. This study empirically measured special educators' use of time over the course of several weeks. It compared actual time use with its perceived value by both the teachers and their principals. Congruence between actual time use and its valuation was generally high but not so in select areas. Likewise, special education teachers and their administrators largely agreed in valuation but were far apart in some areas. A better understand-ing of the administrative duties required of teachers may help administrators appreciate the scope and demands of such nonteaching duties. A new level of communication may lead to more administrative support, as related to prioritizing administrative duties, thereby allowing teachers the time to engage in the tasks they value most. Time, as a manipulable component of schooling, has been studied in relation to teacher performance, student learning, and generally effec-tive schools. School leadership is a critical component in improving time management (Engels, Hotton, Devos, Bouckenooghe, & Aelterman, 2008). Schools and teachers have been evaluated as being more or less efficient time managers, sharing a broader literature on more or less success-ful business organizations and their workers (Fitzwater, 1987; Kozzoll,
Special education faces serious shortages of teachers, and the area of special education teaching with the greatest shortage is in the field emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). This study was conducted to identify the perceptions of current teachers of students with EBD on the definition of and the extent and importance of administrative support to identify contemporary factors affecting teacher longevity in the field. A survey was used to examine the effects of perceived administrative support on teacher stress, job satisfaction, and school commitment with intent to stay in the field. The results of the study indicated characteristics of administrative support significantly correlated with intent to stay in the field, extent of support, opportunities for growth, appreciation and trust, job satisfaction, and positive views of their school. In addition, examination revealed specific administrative behaviors influenced the decision of teachers of students with EBD regarding longevity in the field.
Previous studies suggest that many teachers worldwide are bullied by students. However, deeper understanding of teachers' bullying experiences; of their interpretations of the causes of bullying; and of how they cope with these experiences, is lacking. Using an Internet survey we examined the attributions made by Finnish elementary and lower secondary school teachers for their victimisation; the people with whom they share their experiences; and the links between these. Three kinds of attribution were identified: student-related, institution-related, and teacher-related. Selection of the persons with whom teachers shared their experiences was determined by the nature of the attributions given for victimisation.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how gender roles of women teachers affect their practices in the classrooms. Participants in the study were 75 female teachers working in elementary schools in Adana, Turkey. Findings indicated that gender roles of women teachers have important effects on their educational practices. Women teachers explained how their gender roles affect their profession mostly in terms of “also being a mother” in both positive and negative directions. The main points in teachers’ explanations were “being a mother and a spouse”, “stress”, “close relationships with students and parents” and “lack of authority and issues of confidence”.
This article enquires into the role of gender in the use of different forms of aggression and in the appearance of conflicts within the interactions between students of 12-17 years of age. In order to understand both aspects, the conversational fragments of students and teachers from two high schools are expounded; discourses obtained using a qualitative methodology with focus groups and individual interviews. The results suggest that aggression is used as a tool to solve certain problems between pairs of the same sex, but is also present in relationships between genders as a form of intimidation that tries to influence heterosexual encounters. The aggression between genders adopts subtle and less visible forms than the aggression in pairs of the same sex due to the negative social opinion that exists about forms of aggression directed towards women. The information presented possesses implications for researchers and teachers if we bear in mind that relationships between genders at these ages reflect future relationships as adults.
Mooij, T. (2011). Secondary school teachers’ personal and school characteristics, experience of violence, and perceived violence motives. Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 17(2), 225-251.
Two theories of occupational stress are often cited as being most supported by research: the job strain model (JSM) and the effort—reward imbalance model (ERIM). In order to investigate the applicability of mutual theoretical elements of both models to special education in the USA, a sample of 100 special education paraeducators in public and specialized alternative settings was used. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to determine the best set of predictors of occupational stress among theoretically mutual components of each model. Results supported the hypothesis that there are common elements of both the JSM and the ERIM that can be predictors of occupational stress among special education personnel in the USA.
The aim of this study was to investigate threats and physical violence in the workplace by comparing four areas of human service work, namely psychiatry, eldercare, the Prison and Probation Service (PPS), and special schools (SS). The results revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the frequency of threats and violence among these areas of human service work. In particular, employees in SS were frequently exposed. More exposure was related to a higher degree of reporting incidents in writing to the workplace. However, exposure was not consistently related to self-rated seriousness of the incidents or attitudes that reflect accept of workplace threats and violence. Both threats and physical violence were rated within a moderate range of seriousness in all these areas of work. PPS and SS expressed more accept (attitude) of workplace threats and violence in comparison to psychiatry and eldercare. Conclusion: workplace threats and violence toward staff in areas of human service work is a widespread phenomenon. There is a particular need for better prevention in SS, more research on the seriousness of threats in general, and more knowledge about the relationship between work environment and attitudes about workplace threats and violence.
An awareness of the empirical knowledge concerning school violence and programs that have been supported by research is essential
for the successful adaptation of school violence prevention programs. Yet, knowledge of national trends and model programs
is not sufficient. School social workers must also balance the importance of research-supported programs (which tend to be
identically implemented) and “grassroots” involvement at the school level to create programs that fit the needs and intricacies
of each school. The authors review some major trends and gaps concerning U.S. school violence, explore areas where school
social workers could have a conceptual and practical impact, provide examples of multiple types of research-supported school
safety programs, and present examples of monitoring and mapping approaches that address the need for grassroots involvement
and strong empirical data.
Bullying perpetration and victimization have become pervasive problems in American schools. Recent research suggests a causal association between prolonged periods of victimization and overt acts of school violence. These findings are germane to students with disabilities in light of evidence suggesting these students are victimized more often than typically developing peers. The purpose of this review is to provide special educators with an overview of definitions and issues related to bullying perpetration and victimization and to synthesize research on this topic as it pertains to students with disabilities by disability type, personal characteristics, and educational placement. It was concluded that additional research is needed on prevalence and types of bullying, factors related to perpetration or victimization, and appropriate school-based interventions for special needs populations.
Violence directed against K-12 teachers is a serious problem that demands the immediate attention of researchers, providers of teacher pre-service and in-service training, school administrators, community leaders, and policymakers. Surprisingly, little research has been conducted on this growing problem despite the broad impact teacher victimization can have on schooling, recruitment, and retention of highly effective teachers and on student academic and behavioral outcomes. Psychologists should play a leadership role in mitigating school violence, including violence directed toward teachers. There is a need for psychologists to conduct research accurately assessing the types and scope of violence that teachers experience; to comprehensively evaluate the individual, classroom, school, community, institutional, and cultural contextual factors that might predict and/or explain types of teacher violence; and to examine the effectiveness and sustainability of classroom, school, and district-wide prevention and intervention strategies that target teacher violence in school systems. Collectively, the work of psychologists in this area could have a substantial impact on schooling, teacher experience and retention, and overall student performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
This study reports preliminary findings of a national survey on student violence against teachers in Taiwanese schools; 14,022 students from elementary to high school (grades 4 to 12) participate in this study. Students were given a structured and anonymous questionnaire including a scale for reporting their violent behavior against teachers. Findings suggest the prevalence of violence against teachers varies by gender, grade level, and school type. A majority of perpetrators reported engaging in violence because of a teacher's unreasonable expectations. Findings indicate that intervention programs need to focus on promoting the quality of teacher-student interactions as a major prevention variable.
Community violence has emerged as a major risk factor for the development of mental health problems in children and adolescents. If mental health providers are to meet the needs of children and communities dealing with community violence, then they will need to integrate principles from various subdisciplines in psychology (e.g., developmental psychology, school psychology, developmental psychopathology) as well as disciplines outside of psychology (e.g., sociology, public health, medicine) to understand fully the developmental impact of exposure to community violence. The development of such a model is necessary to identify the pathways, risk, and protective factors on which prevention and intervention programs can be built. The goal of this article is to present an ecological-transactional model of community violence as a conceptual framework for understanding the existing literature and for guiding future research on community violence exposure and child development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A positive school climate is an important component of successful and effective schools and thus is often an aim of schoolwide initiatives. Climate has traditionally been conceptualized as a school-level factor and is often assumed to be related to other school-level factors (e.g., school size). The current study examines variation in perceptions of climate based on individual-, classroom-, and school-level factors to determine the influence of predictors at multiple levels. Data come from 2,468 5th graders from 37 public elementary schools. Two aspects of students' perception of school climate, order and discipline, and achievement motivation are examined. Multilevel analyses in hierarchical linear modeling indicate that individual-level factors (race and sex) accounted for the largest proportion of variance in perceptions of school climate. School-level factors (e.g., school size and faculty turnover) and several classroomlevel factors (e.g., characteristics of the teacher, class size, and the concentration of students with behavior problems) were also significant predictors of perceptions of climate. These findings suggest that characteristics of the classroom environment are important to consider when aiming to improve school climate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Research on the predictors of 3 bully status groups (bullies, victims, and bully victims) for school-age children and adolescents was synthesized using meta-analytic procedures. The primary purpose was to determine the relative strength of individual and contextual predictors to identify targets for prevention and intervention. Age and how bullying was measured were also considered as moderators. From an original pool of 1,622 studies conducted since 1970 (when research on bullying increased significantly), 153 studies were identified that met criteria for inclusion. A number of common and unique predictors were found for the bully status groups. The implications of the meta-analytic findings for future research on bullying and victimization prevention and intervention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Teacher turnover is a significant issue in education that negatively affects students’ academic performance and instructional continuity. While multiple factors impact turnover, the effects of violence directed against teachers on turnover have rarely been explored. The current study examines the extent to which (dis)empowerment applies to teachers who experienced incidents of violence and related intentions to leave their positions. The study includes 403 teachers from a national survey examining teacher-directed violence and teachers’ most upsetting experiences with violence. Using content analysis, results indicated teachers endorsed low levels of empowerment dimensions including status, autonomy and decision-making, and impact. Further, disempowerment was associated with turnover intentions and decisions. Future directions for research, practice, and policy are considered to increase empowerment and prevent turnover following incidents of violence.
Violence against educators is a significant understudied phenomenon that has been largely ignored by policy makers and funders. The primary goal of this paper is to advance measurement and research on educator safety and victimization. We conducted a comprehensive systematic review of the extant literature (1988 to 2016). Although the number of studies has increased dramatically over the past decade, this review revealed only 37 studies in 28 journals (49,581 educators and 91,099 students). On the basis of this review, we highlight key findings, propose a conceptual framework for measurement development, outline key variables for the design of educator safety registries, and identify research priorities. Multidimensional teacher safety assessment systems and registries for educator safety and victimization are crucial to the advancement of the field and the safety of our schools.
Research has shown that employees in special education settings are at high risk for work-related threats and violence. Previous research has not yet been able to identify the essential components of training programs that offer protection from work-related threats and violence. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore how employees in special education schools deal with prevention of work-related threats and violence. Group interviews were conducted with 14 employees working at 5 special education schools. Results show that employees use a wide range of prevention strategies drawing on specific violence prevention techniques as well as professional pedagogical approaches. We propose that the prevention of threats and violence in special education schools can be understood as an integrated pedagogical practice operating on three interrelated levels.
Inclusive teaching tasks have consistently been found challenging for teachers, but it is unclear how they are ranked in terms of the extent of self-efficacy required. This study aimed at deriving such a hierarchy. A survey was conducted on 107 primary school teachers in Hong Kong using the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices scale. A Rasch rating scale model was applied to empirically examine the hierarchical structure. Good person reliability (0.89) and model fit (MNSQ 0.6–1.4) were achieved. Managing physical aggression was found at the top of the hierarchy; this and other results could facilitate the identification of training needs.
Teacher-directed violence, or violence found in a school setting that involves teacher victimization (Espelage et al. in The American Psychologist, 68(2), 75–87, 2011), is a relatively new area of study in education. Teacher-directed violence or teacher victimization includes obscene gestures/remarks, harassment, verbal threats, and theft of personal property. Research on the topic began in the past decade, but still there is limited information about teacher-directed violence, particularly in the USA. Researchers need to understand how much and what types of violence teachers are subjected to in order to develop policy reform (Espelage et al. in The American Psychologist, 68(2), 75–87, 2011). Additionally, research has not examined how teachers cope after experiencing violence, such as to whom teachers turn for social support after experiencing violence, and if social support is effective in helping them cope. The current study examined type and frequency of teacher-directed violence, to whom teachers go to for social support, and the frequency of support from different sources, as well as perceived social support of teachers who experience teacher-directed violence compared to teachers who do not experience violence. This study also examined stress related to teacher-directed violence. Results revealed that teachers experience verbal violence most often, teachers go to another teacher or spouse/significant other for support, and there were no significant differences in stress for teachers who did and did not experience teacher-directed violence.
We compared threats of violence made by K-12 students in special education (120 cases) or general education (136 cases) in schools that were implementing threat assessment guidelines for managing student threats of violence (Cornell, Sheras, Kaplan, McConville, Posey, Levy-Elkon, et al., 2004; Cornell & Sheras, in press). Students in special education made disproportionately more threats, as well as more severe threats, than peers in general education. Students classified as emotionally disturbed (ED) exhibited the highest threat rates. Nevertheless, use of school suspension as a disciplinary consequence for threats was consistent for students in special and general education, and few students were expelled. Our findings support the use of threat assessment to manage threats of violence by students in special education.
A survey of 158 rural special education teachers was conducted to determine the teachers plans for remaining in or leaving their current teaching positions. Only 57% indicated that it was likely that they would return in 5 years. Data were analyzed to determine variables that differed significantly between those likely to stay in their positions. Select variables were entered into a logistic regression analysis to build a predictive model. The results of these analyses, along with teachers' written comments, suggested that administrative support and job requirements played important roles in teachers' 5-year plans.
The residuals of a least squares regression model are defined as the observations minus the modeled values. For least squares regression to produce valid CIs and P values, the residuals must be independent, be normally distributed, and have a constant variance. If these assumptions are not satisfied, estimates can be biased and power can be reduced. However, there are ways to assess these assumptions and steps one can take if the assumptions are violated. Here, we discuss both assessment and appropriate responses to violation of assumptions.
© 2015 American Society for Nutrition.
The lack of qualified special education teachers threatens the quality of education that students with disabilities receive. Attrition plays a part in the teacher shortage problem, and efforts to improve retention must be informed by an understanding of the factors that contribute to attrition. Specifically, the author provides a thematic analysis of studies investigating factors that contribute to special education teacher attrition and retention. She addresses four major themes: teacher characteristics and personal factors, teacher qualifications, work environments, and teachers' affective reactions to work. Following this thematic review, a critique of definitional, conceptual, and methodological approaches used to study special education attrition is provided, as are priorities for future research.
Special education teacher attrition has numerous negative impacts for students and schools. Administrators play an essential role in supporting special educators, but they seldom receive adequate preparation to provide this support effectively. The authors synthesize job characteristics theory, an area of research conducted by organizational psychologists. This theory is used to provide practical suggestions for administrators interested in supporting and retaining special educators.
Although bullying is a prevalent issue in the United States, limited research has explored the impact of school diversity on types of bullying behavior. This study explores the relationship between school diversity, student race, and bullying within the school context. The participants were African American and Caucasian middle school students (n = 4,581; 53.4 % female). Among the participants, 89.4 % were Caucasian and 10.6 % were African American. The research questions examined the relationship between school diversity, student race and bullying behaviors, specifically race-based victimization. The findings suggested that Caucasian middle school students experience more bullying than African American students generally, and specifically when minorities in school settings. Caucasian students also experienced almost three times the amount of race-based victimization than African American students when school diversity was held constant. Interestingly, African American students experienced twice the amount of race-based victimization than Caucasian students when in settings with more students of color. The present study provides insight into bullying behaviors across different contexts for different races and highlights the need to further investigate interactions between personal and environmental factors on the bulling experiences of youth.
Previous research on home–school relationships and blame has concentrated on the experiences of parents with children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD). This has led to the voices of educational practitioners, as well as parents of children with other special educational needs, being neglected. This article, by Karen Broomhead of Lancaster University, details part of a larger study examining socio-emotional aspects of home–school relationships between parents of children with special educational needs and educational practitioners. The study reported in this article explored perceptions of blame via semi-structured interviews with 15 educational professionals and 22 parents of children with various special educational needs. The findings reveal that parental experiences of blame and guilt were influenced by the nature of their children's special educational needs, which consequently influenced parental focus on obtaining ‘labels’ of special educational needs for their children. The implications of these findings for educational practitioners are discussed.
Teachers in U.S. schools report high rates of victimization, yet previous studies focus on select types of victimization and student perpetrators, which may underestimate the extent of the problem. This national study was based on work conducted by the American Psychological Association Classroom Violence Directed Against Teachers Task Force and is one of the few national studies to examine violence directed at teachers. Participants included 2,998 kindergarten through 12th-grade (K-12) teachers from 48 states who completed an anonymous web-based survey assessing their experiences with victimization. Results revealed that 80% of teachers reported at least one victimization, and of these teachers, 94% reported being victimized by students. Nearly three-fourths of all teachers experienced at least one harassment offense, more than half experienced property offenses, and 44% reported physical attacks. Findings suggest that specific teacher and community characteristics are associated with a higher likelihood of victimization, namely, male gender and urban settings; whereas, African American teachers were less likely to report victimization. Implications for teacher training, school interventions, public policy, and future research are discussed.
This study explores gender inequality in the occupational culture of Japanese high school teachers with special focus on women teachers' resistance to gender-biased practices. It examines the effectiveness of official and informal teacher training programmes in raising awareness of gender issues. Through an ethnographic case study conducted in five high schools in Gifu and Aichi, Japan, this study explores (1) the characteristics of the teaching community, and (2) the role of formal and informal teacher education in the occupational socialisation of new teachers. Moreover, by applying critical feminist perspectives, the study highlights (3) gender inequality within the occupational culture and myriad forms of women teachers' resistance to gender-biased practice. In drawing policy implications, the study examines (4) the effectiveness of teacher training programmes in raising teachers' awareness of gender issues.
Purpose
While prior research focused primarily on student-on-student school violence, educators are also at risk. This study was designed to identify risk factors for assaults against educators.
Methods
Kindergarten-grade 12 educators (n=26 000), randomly selected from a state license database, were screened for eligibility (6469, eligible) by mailed questionnaire. Phase 1 (12-month recall), identified eligible assault cases (n=372) and controls (N=1,116), June 2004 to December 2005; Phase 2 (case-control study; response, 78%) enabled identification of exposures through one-month recall before student-perpetrated assaults (cases) and randomly selected months (controls). Directed acyclic graphs enabled confounder selection for multivariable logistic regression analyses; reweighting adjusted for potential biases.
Results
Risks (ORs, 95% CIs) increased for working in: Special Education (5.84, 4.07-8.39) and School Social Work (7.18, 2.72-18.91); Kindergarten to second grade (1.81, 1.18-2.77); urban (1.95, 1.38-2.76) schools; schools with <50 (8.40, 3.12-22.63), 50-200 (3.67, 1.84-7.34), 201-500 (2.09, 1.32-3.29), and 501-1000 (1.94, 1.25-3.01) students versus >1000; schools with inadequate resources always/frequently (1.62, 1.05-2.48) versus infrequently/never; inadequate building safety always/frequently (4.48, 2.54-7.90) versus infrequently/never; environments with physical barriers (1.50, 1.07-2.10). Risks decreased with: routine locker searches (0.49, 0.29-0.85) and accessible exits (0.36, 0.17-0.74).
Conclusions
Identification of assault risk factors provides a basis for further investigation and interventions.
Hypotheses about the association of school organizational characteristics with school crime and disorder were tested in a nationally representative sample of 254 secondary schools. Relatively small intra-class correlations suggest that most of the variance in the individual measures of school disorder result from within-school rather than between-school variation. Therefore only a small portion of this variation is potentially explainable by between-school influences. Nevertheless, school climate explained a substantial percentage of the variance in all measures of school disorder, controlling for the effects of community characteristics and school student composition. Schools in which students perceived greater fairness and clarity of rules had less delinquent behavior and less student victimization. Rule fairness and clarity did not influence teacher victimization. Schools with more positive psychosocial climates had less teacher victimization, but climate did not influence student victimization or delinquent behavior.
The occupational field of special education has been particularly vulnerable to losing its well-trained professional staff. Academic preparation and training of these teachers is costly and time-consuming, and replacing them is difficult. The present study compared the satisfactions and dissatisfactions of teachers of emotionally/behaviorally impaired students in special education, teachers of students in general education, and teachers responsible for both groups of students. Teachers of students in special education programs were found to be the most dissatisfied. Specific stresses and frustrations, both from within and from outside the classroom, were found to be associated with the dissatisfaction. The difficulties were particularly common in younger, less experienced special education teachers. The implications of these findings are discussed, and recommendations aimed at improving job satisfaction for special education teachers are presented.
Binary outcome data are common in research and evaluation. They are often analyzed using logistic regression, and results of these analyses are often reported in the form of odds ratios (ORs). However, ORs are not directly interpretable in the metric commonly used in policy-relevant discussions, which concerns probabilities. ORs are unfamiliar to nonresearchers, and their relationship to probability implications is not well understood by researchers. For example, the common practice of taking ORs as direct estimates of changes in probabilities (i.e., as risk ratios) systematically inflates effect sizes in probability terms. Fortunately, the probability implications of ORs can be derived simply and can be presented concretely as contrasting pairs of probabilities. These probability pairs are easily understandable by both the research and the lay audiences for evaluation results. After reviewing the relationship between probabilities, odds, and their ratios, this article shows how to explore ORs’ implications for probabilities, illustrating with recent examples from the literature.
Although parents' relationships with teachers are considered to be an important aspect of parental school involvement, few studies have examined their implications for students' school adjustment. The present study provided further insight into the relevance of teachers' perceptions of the parent–teacher relationship by examining their link to teachers' perceptions of student–teacher relational conflict. Participants were 36 native Dutch teachers who rated their relationships with 230 Grade 4–6 students (59 Turkish–Dutch, 62 Moroccan–Dutch, and 109 native Dutch) and their parents. It was found that the perceived parent–teacher relationship could explain ethnic differences in student–teacher conflict that were previously unaccounted for. Moreover, the effect of the parent–teacher relationship was most pronounced for students with more perceived inattention/hyperactivity problems. Results are discussed in light of their theoretical importance and practical implications. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Violence is a major occupational problem; yet, rigorous studies focused on educators to address this problem are limited. The objective was to identify educators' potential risks for physical assault (PA) and nonphysical violence (NPV), based on hours exposed.
A total of 4,731 licensed kindergarten through grade 12 Minnesota educators, identified from the Minnesota Department of Education database, participated. Specially designed mailed questionnaires (12-month recall) enabled data collection. Calculated PA and NPV rates, per 100,000 working hours, used Poisson regression. Directed acyclic graphs identified confounders for multivariable analysis, adjusted for non-response and unknown eligibility.
The total PA rate was 5.3; PA risks increased for educators who: were non-married versus married; held master's degrees, or education specialist degrees, versus associate/bachelor's degrees; worked in public alternative and various school types, versus public schools; worked as social workers, in special education or multiple activities, versus standard classroom teaching; worked with <10, versus 10 to <25 students in the class. The total NPV rate was 26.4; subcategory rates were: threat (34.8); sexual harassment (7.6); verbal abuse (55.5); bullying (19.6). Increased risks for NPV included: 30-39 and 60-79, versus 50-59years of age; non-married versus married; working in public alternative versus public schools; working part-time or substitute, versus full-time; teaching in special education or multiple activities, versus standard classroom teaching; teaching in class sizes <10 and ≥25, versus 10-24 students; teaching in grades 3-12 and multiple grades, versus kindergarten to second grade. The investigated results for PA and NPV were similar, with a few exceptions. DISCUSSION AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Results from this study provided information about factors associated with increased and decreased risks for violence against educators, based on hours worked. In addition, they provided a basis for further investigations to reduce violence against educators in the school environment.