Violence Against Teachers in Sweden: The hidden side of School Violence

Abstract: During the latest years, the phenomenon of violence against teachers has been a growing concern for contemporary schools all over the world (Bounds & Jenkins, 2018). Existing studies propose increasing prevalence estimates (McMahon et al., 2017) and various harmful consequences for victims and schools (Wilson et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2017). Yet, this phenomenon is still severely understudied. Therefore, this study attempts to address some of the existing literature gaps by providing in-depth qualitative information on educators’ thoughts and experiences on the subject. More specifically, this study aims to investigate the different forms and consequences of violence against teachers as well as the teachers’ perceptions about the factors that motivate students to engage in violent behaviours against them. Information relevant to the purpose of this study was comprehended through semi-structured interviews and analysed by using the method of conventional context analysis. Findings from the interviews suggested that violence against teachers is commonly experienced in both indirect (e.g. rumour spreading, property crime) and direct forms (e.g. verbal and physical violence), whereas consequences were found to impact teachers’ psychological wellbeing, their personal lives, the students and consequently several aspects of the school climate itself (e.g. teaching and learning experience). Additional findings suggested that students’ violent behaviour can be motivated by several factors who are either of personal nature to a student (e.g. receiving an unexpected grade) or a result of the preestablished student culture (e.g. normalisation of violence among peers and generalisation of behaviour). Directions for future research, policy implications and targeted interventions are considered in the context of these findings.