In just one year, the number of compensated teachers and educators who have been victims of school violence has increased by 65%, we learned The newspaper. According to several speakers, the effects of the pandemic could well be questioned.
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In 2020, 554 school staff were compensated for “injuries resulting from workplace violence,” according to data from the Commission on Standards, Equity, Health, and Safety at Work (CNESST).
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The following year, in 2021, that number had risen to 911, the biggest jump in at least a decade.
But that’s just “the tip of the iceberg,” according to Simon Viviers, a professor in the Faculty of Education at Laval University.
“The fact that there is a complaint with CNESST is because the situation is not trivial,” he emphasizes.
Photo agency QMI, Joël Lemay
The CNESST compensates workers who are unable to perform their work due to an industrial accident, which can be physical or psychological.
For example, a child care worker at a Montreal school was twice compensated by CNESST after suffering head trauma and post-traumatic shock as a result of violent acts instigated by students (see other text).
The victims of the violent crimes, mostly committed by schoolchildren, are first the specialist teachers, followed by the kindergarten and elementary school teachers. We’re talking mostly about “shoving,” “pinching,” “kicking,” and “punching volleys,” which CNESST says are on the rise.
The situation is similar on the part of the Federation of School Attendants (FPSS-CSQ). According to a survey of its members this spring, 74% of staff have experienced violence, mostly from students, in the past school year. According to a comparable survey, this proportion was 71% in 2018.
Listen to the interview with Éric Pronovost, President of the Fédération du personal de soutien scolaire, on the show by Benoit Dutrizac, broadcast live every day at 11 a.m. via QUB radio :
A “pandemic effect”
“It’s worse than before. Who will take courage in both hands and solve this situation? dumps its president Éric Pronovost, who sees a “pandemic effect” in this increase.
The situation is similar with school childcare. The children who were at home and socially disconnected longer had “less developed social skills” so they are now “less tolerant of others,” says Réjeanne Brodeur, president of the Quebec Association of School Care.
Simon Viviers also shares this observation, recalling that society in general is “in a context of social tension”.
The latter also recalls that the integration of students with special needs into mainstream education remains an “extremely important issue” as many teachers feel unable to meet their needs.
The lack of childcare services for these students in day care centers also remains a problem and may partly explain the rise in violence, adds Réjeanne Brodeur.
Many students with special needs receive individual support in class, but this help disappears when they go to daycare, she recalls. “It’s as if the child, when they go from class to kindergarten, becomes a miracle,” she says wryly. However, the needs are the same.
Éric Pronovost also advocates having more resources available to “work ahead to do prevention” rather than acting urgently to defuse crises that sometimes degenerate.
A SPECTACULAR INCREASE
Number of teachers and staff in the education network who received compensation for injuries caused by violence at school :
- 2012: 360
- 2013: 341
- 2014 : 353
- 2015 : 417
- 2016: 451
- 2017: 519
- 2018: 562
- 2019: 591
- 2020: 554
- 2021: 911
Source: Commission on Standards, Equal Opportunity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST)
74% of school assistants experienced workplace violence in 2020-2021
Among them :
- 68% claim to have been physically abused
- 81% Identify students as the source of the incident
- 29% identify students’ parents as the source of the incident
Source: Ad hoc research company survey from April 22 to July 1, 2022 for the Association of School Attendants with 1,617 respondents. The error rate is 2.4%.
In post-traumatic shock after being attacked by a student
An educator in charge of a daycare center at a Montreal school has been out of a job for a year after he was assaulted by a student last year.
“It brought me down. It was the second time it happened. I was fooled into being afraid of the students,” she interjects.
This educator, whom we will call Mélanie because she asked for anonymity, has been working in day care for about thirty years.
Last year she had to intervene with a special needs student who was in crisis, but the situation escalated.
“She started scratching me and I got slapped. That kid should never have ended up in a regular school,” she said.
For Melanie it was one incident too many. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic shock. It must be said that Mélanie was not at school when she first took a break from work due to violence.
hit in the face
Four years ago, the educator suffered a traumatic brain injury and concussion after being punched in the face by a sixth grader.
Mélanie intervened and asked him to remove his hood so she could see his eyes. “Instead, he took his fist and punched me in the eye. I didn’t see anything coming. It was like getting hit in the face with a brick,” she says.
Over the years, Mélanie has witnessed several acts of violence. “I’ve seen things,” she says. Kids throwing TVs, trying to pick up bookshelves to throw them, I’ve seen it all.”
But she remains convinced that the health crisis has contributed to exacerbating the climate on the playgrounds. “Before the pandemic, I would say we had 10% of the kids who didn’t have it easy. We are now at 30% where we need to intervene on a daily basis. We’re all out of breath,” she said.
Claire Beaumont, a professor at Laval University and holder of the Research Chair in Well-Being at School and the Prevention of Violence, wants to put this portrait into perspective.
The pandemic has indeed “turned a lot of things upside down, both for adults and for students,” but the impact has varied greatly from school to school, she says.
“There are schools that have worked with the school climate more difficultly, so it is certain that it has not improved with the pandemic. But there are also schools where there were really good practices that came out in abundance. It’s really different,” she says.
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