A report raises alarms regarding the high rate of workplace violence directed at Ontario Education Sector Workers

BY PAUL JUNOR

The release of a new report, “In Harm’s Way, the Epidemic of Violence Against Education Sector Workers in Ontario,” by the University of Ottawa has raised alarms.

Details of the report revealed that there is a “shockingly high“ rate of workplace violence that is being normalized. The results of the report were released on Monday, November 10^th, 2021 detailing the various types of violence that education sector workers are repeatedly exposed to. They included being; hit, kicked, punched, slapped, choked, scratched, strangled, spat at, head butted, kneed in the crotch, and threatened and sometimes cut with scissors.

Additionally, it includes “Getting hit with objects that people have thrown at them.” In order to come to this conclusion, a survey was conducted by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) from February 2^nd, 2020 to March 13^th, 2020. The report wanted to find out information from these education sector workers with respect to their exposure to harassment and violence during the 2018-2019 school year. The focus of the report was on education assistants, early childhood educators, child and youth workers as well as school support staff. These education stakeholders are a vital part of the proper functioning of any school and are often forgotten or ignored.

Brittany Mario, co-author of the report, has spoken out, “The things that some of the participants were saying were really troubling, really tragic, and really traumatic. You can tell that they have not been acknowledged before, and this was thousands of respondents.” She states that it has now become normal for violence to be accepted within elementary and secondary school, and that it seems to be an inevitable and an on-going reality. Some of the findings from the report include the following:

• 89% of survey respondents experienced a threat, attempt, or act of physical violence from one or more sources, including students, parents, colleagues, or administrators, during the 2018-2019 school year
• Workplace violence rates for educational assistants are among the highest of any occupation
• Workplace violence can be severe and result in significant injuries, including concussions, fractures, dislocated joints, back and head injuries, infections and whiplash
• In any single year, 95% of classroom-based and support staff experienced some form of harassment from one or more sources, including put-downs, obscene gestures from students, comments that ridicule, demean or offend and the spreading of false accusations
• Harassment and violence are repetitive and on-going experiences
• Workplace harassment and violence have profound lasting impacts, with 87% indicating that harassment and violence had a substantial impact on their lives
• Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder are “ shockingly high”
• One in ten participants experience a workplace reprisal for reporting harassment
• Women experience higher levels of workplace harassment, violence and more impacts
• Respondents with a disability reported higher levels of harassment from co-workers and administrators than educators who did not identify as disabled
• BIPOC workers report higher rates of workplace reprisals for reporting incidents of harassment and violence

In response to the report, Mario states, “There is a desperate need for resources in classrooms, and in schools, not the removal of funding, but rather the addition of funding. We need more EAs in classrooms.”

Laura Walton (President of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions) spoke out passionately about the topic, “It’s not about a lack of training. It’s just about a lack of support that is available to these students. We just don’t have adequate resources. Listen, nobody goes to work, or should go to work, expecting violent outcomes. Everybody should be able to come home from work, whole. Education is no different.”

There is hope that the Ministry of Education will respond by providing the recommendations of the report. These include, “Adequate resources for students, support for education sector workers, and additional training.”