Key Research Findings

Rates of violence are high: 84% of education sector workers experienced at least one act, attempt, or threat of physical force.

• Most of the violence is student-initiated: 69% of respondents experienced one act of physical force from a student, with one in five (20%) reporting more than 20 unique acts.

Education sector workers experience ongoing and frequent acts, attempts, and threats of physical force. One in four (26%) reported more than 20 attempts of physical force from a student. 

Women education sector workers experienced twice as many acts, attempts, and threats of physical force from a student(s) compared to their colleagues who identified as men - 20 unique instances compared to 10. 

Shockingly, one in five workers reported at least one threat of physical force from a parent during the 2022-2023 school year. 

Witnessing workplace violence is also deeply destressing for many: One in three (32%) education sector workers at least one parent-initiated act, attempt, or threat of physical force against a colleague and 85% witnessed at least one student-initiated act, attempt, or threat of physical force against a co-worker. 

Seven out of every eight workers experienced harassment at least once and these experiences were often not isolated events – respondents reported an average of 34 unique instances of harassment during the year.

Equity-deserving and sovereignty-seeking groups were disproportionately vulnerable to workplace harassment and reprisals for reporting violence and/or harassment at work.

• Indigenous education sector workers experience more frequent verbal insults and offensive remarks from students.

• Education sector workers with a reported diagnosed mental illness experienced high rates and more frequent harassment from students.

• Compared to 54% of all participants, fully 72% of 2SLGBTQIA+ workers were harassed by parents; meaning, they are 33% more likely to experience parent-initiated harassment. 

• Risk of experiencing a reprisal for reporting workplace violence and/or harassment was over 3 times higher for education sector workers who identified as 2SLGBTQIA+ and those who reported a diagnosed mental illness. 

Violence and harassment are dramatically underreported: Nearly half (49%) of participants did not report any instances of violence or harassment in the 2022-2023 school year; 64% indicated at least one of these instances should have been reported but was not. 

The professional costs to these high rates of violence and harassment are high: Rates of burnout, PTSD, and job dissatisfaction were notably high among Saskatchewan's education sector workers surveyed. 

Mental health impacts are pronounced: The majority of respondents (85%) reported that workplace violence impacts their mental health ‘somewhat’ (38%) or ‘a lot’ (47%). 

Experiencing violence and harassment at work takes a heavy toll on families: 60% of survey respondents indicated that workplace violence negatively impacts (‘somewhat’ or ‘a lot’) their personal relationships outside of work. Many spoke of feeling despondent, exhausted, and lacking the energy to connect deeply with their partners, children, and/or friends. 

Students are negatively impacted as well: The vast majority of respondents reported that workplace violence negatively affects: their ability to teach, the learning environment, and students' wellbeing. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation more complicated: Almost nine in ten educators (88%) noted that time spent managing off-task behaviours, inappropriate behaviours, and students emotions has increased since the pandemic. 

Rates of violence are high: 89% percent of survey participants reported at least one act, attempt, or threat of physical force from one or more sources (i.e., students, parents, colleagues, administrators) during a single school year. 

• Most violence was student-initiated: 70% of classroom-based workers and school support staff reported experiencing one or more acts of physical force from a student in one year)

Rates of harassment are also alarmingly high: 95% of survey respondents reported at least one type of harassment from one or more sources (i.e., students, parents, colleagues, administrators) during the 2018-2019 school year.

Participants overwhelmingly felt that levels of harassment and violence have increased: Over 80% of classroom-based workers (e.g., educational assistants, early childhood educators) and school support staff (e.g., clerical, custodial, maintenance) indicated that the levels of harassment and violence have increased in the past ten years.

Rates and impacts of harassment were gendered: Women participants reported higher levels of harassment from students and parents, as well as higher levels of violence from students compared to their male counterparts; women also reported working more overtime, higher workload increases, less ability to meet workplace demands, and greater familial impacts.

Prevalence of and responses to harassment and violence are not equal: BIPOC participants reported higher rates of reprisals for reporting instances of harassment or violence. BIPOC participants’ experiences of violence and harassment included racial slurs, microaggressions, and the targeting of religious and cultural symbols (e.g., hijab).

Higher rates of harassment among disabled participants: Participants identifying as having a disability reported significantly higher levels of harassment from colleagues and administrators. They also reported elevated levels of workplace reprisals and failure to accommodate (including when the disability was acquired at the workplace).

Harassment and violence have lasting effects on mental health, physical health, and job performance. Higher levels of harassment and verbal violence, as well as higher levels of physical violence, were associated with diminished physical health, mental health, and job performance, even when assessed some six months after the school year in which the harassment and violence occurred.

• This result was particularly striking for classroom-based workers (e.g., educational assistants) – 87% indicated workplace violence and harassment had a substantial (and often multifaceted) impact on their personal lives. 

• In terms of impact, frequent and seemingly less severe forms of harassment (e.g., a put down) are as significantly related to health and well-being as less frequent but more severe forms of harassment (e.g., false accusations).

Workplace violence in schools is often normalized: EAs and early childhood educators (ECEs), in particular, report a general acceptance by administrators that violence ‘is part of the job’, creating a context in which the harms they suffer are minimized or negated. Participants also report being blamed when they experience workplace violence.

The impacts of workplace violence and harassment are pronounced: 18% of educational assistants (EAs) surveyed would be designated with PTSD following their worst incident of harassment and 13.5% of EAs would be designated with PTSD following their worst incident of violence in the past year. 

• Results indicate that one in six classroom-based workers and school support staff were either at imminent risk of burnout (7.21%) or would meet formal criteria for burnout (7.86%). The qualitative analysis of the data demonstrates that the risk of burnout and disengagement is exacerbated when a lack of collegial and administrative respect, support, and acknowledgment operates alongside rapidly evolving/increasing workplace expectations.

The economic costs of this crisis are high: Replacing classroom-based and school support staff for time lost due to workplace harassment or violence is conservatively estimated to cost Ontario at least 3.5 million dollars per year.

Rates of violence are increasing: Results of our study suggest that there has been an almost seven-fold increase in the experience of violence against educators in the past 12 years when the first Canadian surveys examining violence against educators were conducted.

Rates of violence in Ontario's elementary schools are alarmingly high: 54% of educators reported experiencing one or more acts of physical violence during a single school year. 

• 60% reported one or more attempts to use physical force and 49% experienced one or more threats. 

• Overwhelmingly, this violence was student perpetrated. 

Levels of harassment are unacceptably high. 72% of respondents reported experiencing explicit verbal insults, putdowns, and/or obscene gestures from a student in the 2017-2018 school year

• 41% of survey respondents experienced harassment from a parent. 

Vulnerability to harassment and violence is conditioned by intersecting factors. For example, rates of harassment and violence from students are statistically higher among educators identifying as racialized, disabled, women, or LGBTQ.

• Further, educators who are racialized, disabled, or identify as LGBTQ experienced elevated levels of reprisals from administrators.

• Women educators with disabilities experience the highest levels of harassment and violence. 

Educators reported that harassment and violence were repetitive, frequent, and ongoing occurrences. Educators who experienced harassment report an average of 8.5 occasions of insults, put-downs, obscene gestures from students, 2.77 from parents, 3.98 from colleagues, and 4.21 from administrators in the 2017-2018 school year. 

Educators often feel unsupported by administrators, that common strategies (e.g., Personal Protective Equipment) are addressing symptoms rather than root causes, and that there is a disturbing normalization of violence in Ontario’s elementary schools. 

Impacts of harassment and violence are long lasting. Higher levels of either harassment or physical violence are associated with diminished physical and mental health, as well as lower job performance even when assessed months after the school year in which the harassment and violence occurred. 

The financial costs associated with harassment and violence is considerable. It is estimated that the costs associated with lost time due to harassment and violence against public school educators in Ontario is in excess of 3 million dollars annually.

Almost half of educators did not report their worst incident of workplace violence in the past year. Reasons for not reporting are varied, including a lack of time, being discouraged to do so, and concern about repercussions. 

Harassment and violence against elementary school educators is gendered violence. 

• Not only are upwards of 85% of these workers women but gender is evident in the nature of the violence (language deployed, the mobilization of gendered tropes, microaggressions, and sexual harassment) and in the institutional response including the routine responsibilizing and blaming of educators for the harassment and violence they experience. 

Educators feel training is needed. Only 36% of educators are confident in their ability to deal with an incident of physical violence; the majority would welcome social-emotional learning programs (68%) and non-physical intervention programs (55%). 

There is a strong need for supports and staff. Educators overwhelmingly identify the need for more and better allocation and access to staff, supports (e.g., educational assistants, mental health specialists), and the earlier identification of student needs.