Northern Ontario teachers call for more support to address violence in the classroom

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.

Difficult return to class

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 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.

It's a very mentally and physically exhausting job and certain people just, you know, reach a breaking point.- Chantal Rancourt, OECTA Sudbury elementary president

Chantal Rancourt, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) Sudbury elementary unit, said the numbers from the ETFO align with her experience.

"I think it is reflective of the reality, unfortunately, in classrooms over the last several years," she said.

In 2017, OECTA surveyed its teachers about violence in the classroom, and 89 per cent said they experienced or witnessed violence or harassment in the classroom. 

Rancourt said she has seen more teachers leave the profession in the last few years than she did in the past.

"It's a very mentally and physically exhausting job and certain people just, you know, reach a breaking point."

Rancourt agreed schools need more support staff, but they also need to be people with the right skill set to support children with behavioural problems.

"I think we need to have very specific staff resources," she said.

"A teacher is not equipped to be a psychiatrist and a social worker and an educator and a nurse."

After the ETFO released its survey, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he made a $24-million funding announcement in April aimed at reducing violence in schools.

But Hammond said $24 million won't go far across Ontario's 72 school boards.

CBC News contacted the Rainbow District School Board, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board and the Near North District School Board for comment on violence in the classroom.

A spokesperson for the Rainbow Board said in an email "we cannot comment on a survey we have not been part of."

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board and the Near North District School Board did not respond by deadline.