Ontario education workers face 'shockingly high' rates of workplace violence, new report says

Ontario education workers face "shockingly high" rates of workplace violence, with 70 per cent of those surveyed saying they have been subjected to some form of physical force, a new report says.

The report, In Harm's Way, The Epidemic of Violence Against Education Sector Workers in Ontario, by University of Ottawa researchers, says workplace violence against education workers is being normalized. 

According to the research, released Monday, workers reported being hit, kicked, punched, slapped, choked, scratched, strangled, spat at, head butted, kneed in the crotch, and threatened and sometimes cut with scissors. They also described getting hit with objects that people had thrown at them.

"The things that some of the participants were saying were really troubling, really tragic, really traumatic. You can tell that they have not been acknowledged before, and this was thousands of respondents," said Brittany Mario, co-author of the report. 

Researchers surveyed 3,854 education workers, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), between Feb. 3, 2020, and March 13, 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Workers were asked about their experiences of harassment and violence during the 2018-2019 school year.

The researchers did not include teachers, choosing to focus instead on education assistants, early childhood educators, child and youth workers and school support staff.

Mario, a doctoral candidate in the University of Ottawa department of criminology, said the research shows violence in schools is now considered part of the reality of working in Ontario's elementary and secondary school system. She called education workers a "commonly overlooked group."

"There were responses that talked about hiding bruises. There were responses that talked about suffering from very serious [post traumatic stress disorder], of needing psychological therapy twice a week, of being on medication," she said.

"Part of what I think is also the most troubling is how minimized this is. Nobody feels heard. That's really what we saw in a lot of the responses — that the violence is normalized. It's now just considered part of the job: 'Well, you signed up for this,'" she added.

Most educational assistants went into the field to help students, but they have become subjected to violent days in their workplace, she said.

"It should absolutely not be an expectation of an educational assistant," she said.

Mario noted that most education workers are female and the violence is not only violence in the classroom but also violence against women.

Other findings from the report include:

The report recommends: adequate resources for students; support for education sector workers; and additional training.