The drums of violence against teachers have long been sounding, but now they are rumbling louder than ever. According to the latest surveys by the Central Sindical Independiente y de Funcionarios (CSIF), an overwhelming 90% of the teachers surveyed claim to have experienced some case of violence in the classroom , and another 75% claim to have lost respect and authority.

In addition, a quarter of those interviewed said or thought that working life at the school was neither very pleasant nor enjoyable. It is not a problem that is alien to anyone; parents’ associations are aware of the situation and are calling for more means to combat violence in the classroom. The problem could be in the new forms of socialization and in a bad use of the Internet.

Violence according to the Central Sindical Independiente de Funcionarios

With a sample of 3,000 teachers interviewed, the result of this study has set off alarm bells both in the media and in the Ministry of Education itself. Despite the fact that schools are created with the objective of education, it seems that non-violence, one of the fundamental principles for socializing and participating in any culture, is losing its presence in the classroom. Physical or verbal violence seems to be present in the work of most teachers.

In addition, other indicators in the study show more signs of the effects of violence in the classroom. The numbers are as follows: 55% of teachers say there is a lot of violence in the classroom , 28% think that the relationship with parents is bad or very bad, and another 20% of respondents admit to having a poor relationship with their students. Certainly, it is something to worry about if the trend is not reversed.

Main causes

CSIF presented the study a little over a week ago, and its presenter, Mario Gutiérrez, opened the session by openly acknowledging the seriousness of the situation: “it is tremendously worrying”. The study is clear: if this violence of children is not corrected, it will become violence of adults . It is no longer a question of respecting the teacher, but of respecting oneself and others.

The authors of the study point to possible causes of this phenomenon: the lack of authority of the teacher (undoubtedly the most relevant), the access that students have to any kind of violent content through the Internet and the little recognition that teachers have by society.

Not so long ago, the teacher was the second most important figure for young people, after parents. The education the children received was complemented by the school. That chain of transmission of socializing values, says Gutiérrez, has been interrupted.

The unions warn of this latent lack of authority, since in many cases the teachers claim not to be in control of the situation and feel humiliated by the student himself even when he is very young. It is especially noteworthy that some teachers claim to be unable to remove the student from class when he or she behaves inappropriately. The teachers claim a lack of support from their superiors, the competent authorities but, above all, from the parents when they meet with them. “Most of them don’t accept criticism of their children,” explained one teacher in the presentation of the study results.

Another classic of our times could not be missed: social networks. The creators of the study claim that very young students, between 12 and 16 years old, provoke situations of school bullying at extreme levels. The union points to the bad practice of parents giving away mobile devices at communions. “They don’t know how to manage their egos and lose respect for their peers 24 hours a day. From this perspective, social networks such as Instagram promote a constant competition for the influence on others , being violence one more way to gain this precious respect.

Some measures

Apart from the recent CSIF study, there are other reports of action and prevention of violence in classrooms that recommend some measures to curb this wave of teacher abuse. The situation requires it, according to the most pessimistic points of view. The association of The Teacher’s Defender stated that threats and aggressions against educators by students have multiplied by five in recent years.

For this reason, the CSIF has proposed a series of measures that require urgent implementation, such as making a State pact so that public schools have a department of psychological support for this type of incident, or implementing an updated plan for school coexistence. In the short term, there is a call for more training for teachers in order to combat the harmful influence of the misuse of new technologies, such as WhatsApp or Facebook.