Poisoning, concussions: Why student violence on teachers is a growing fear

A number of jurisdictions across Canada are reporting a greater frequency of student-on-teacher violence, ranging from verbal threats to physical abuse.

It’s only one month into the new school year, and Samantha Becotte says her email inbox is already flooding with reports of student violence on teachers.

Becotte, who is the president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, says reports of student-on-teacher abuse have been “very frequent.”

While the union doesn’t record exact incident numbers, a survey from this year found that 35 per cent of teachers in Saskatchewan public schools reported experiencing violence or abuse from students among all grade levels in the last five years.

Becotte says the frequency of reports that she personally received has spiked in the last year.

“It’s a staggering number of incidents,” Becotte told Global News. “Violence in schools towards teachers is definitely a growing trend.”

Saskatchewan’s teachers’ union has received reports of teachers being hit, kicked and spit on. They’ve also heard of concussions, broken bones and unknown substances being dropped into teacher’s drinks, Becotte says.

The union received multiple reports of teachers stabbed with pencils just in the first two weeks of the new school year.

“It is really shocking,” Becotte said.