Northern Ontario teachers call for more support to address violence in the classroom
CBC
Rob Hammond says teachers with the Near North District School Board have been scratched, punched, kicked, spat on, and even suffered life-altering concussions due to violence from their students.
Hammond is president of the Near North Teachers Local with the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO). He gets an incident report every time one of his members experiences violence in the classroom.
But Hammond says violence in the classroom is a problem across the province.
"The Near North is only one example, but if you go to any of the other locals, they are experiencing the exact same thing," he said.
A new survey of the ETFO's members across the province backs that up.
Seventy-seven per cent of the members who responded to the survey said they personally experienced violence in the classroom or witnessed violence against a colleague.
The numbers were even higher – at 86 per cent – for special education teachers who responded to the survey.
Hammond has been teaching since 1990, but said the problem of violence in the classroom has become much worse over the last 10 to 15 years.
"Very quickly after COVID ended we found our violence levels were coming back up and in fact they've exceeded what they were pre-pandemic," he said.
When students were learning from home at the height of the pandemic, Hammond said they missed out on a lot of social development. Many never learned to adjust to a classroom environment when in-person classes returned.
But Hammond, and the ETFO, have said the biggest issue is that teachers are under-resourced.
"We're underfunded and we're overwhelmed and we just don't not have the resources available for us to be able to meet the needs of these high risk students," he said.
Hammond said hiring more support staff, and having separate spaces available to work with children who have behavioural issues, would go a long way to help address violence in the classroom.
Chantal Rancourt, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) Sudbury elementary unit, said the numbers from the ETFO align with her experience.
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