Almost 80% of Elementary school teachers in Ontario have been victim to or witnessed violence in the classroom. (Elementary Teachers Federation Ontario, 2023)
Does this number surprise you? It absolutely should!
A simple google search of "violence in the classroom Ontario'' results in hundreds of news articles in which teachers speak out about the violence they or are experiencing everyday in their schools and classrooms. There are many articles that discuss the extreme cases of violence where a student has attacked staff and the police were called. Recently, in Ontario we have seen an incident where a 12 year old girl was tasered by police because of a violent outburst at school. This student attacked 3 staff and 1 student which resulted in the hospitalization of 1 victim. The overarching messaging in the media seems to be that it was unacceptable for the police to take these steps. The thing that the media doesn't see is that this child had multiple violent incidents over multiple years, beginning in JK. This student had scissors at one point and the staff and police tried every other means of de-escalation possible. If this was an 18 year old running around the streets attacking random people with scissors, sending 1 to hospital, and the police tasered them, would we as a society be as outraged as we are about this? Probably not. But other than age, where is the difference?
The fact that we have schools in our province that have locks installed on the doors so if a student becomes aggressive, the staff can leave the room and lock the student in the room alone. Hallways are shut down and 4-5 staff escort 1 student into a classroom dressed in padded "Stealth Wear" jackets, hard hats, arm guards, shin guards, face shields, gloves and many other types of Personal Protective Equipment. Students are put into contaminants on a daily basis sometimes multiple times in 1 hour. How is this EDUCATION? What are we teaching these students? What are we teaching other students that witness this or have to have their education disrupted? As a system we are failing when it comes to inclusion and whose rights do we violate. What is inclusion? It's definitely not this.
Ontario Curriculum states "Human rights principles recognize the importance of creating a climate of understanding and mutual respect for the dignity and worth of each person, so that each person can contribute fully to the development and well-being of their community. Indeed, human rights law guarantees a person's right to equal treatment in education. It requires educators and school leaders to prevent and respond appropriately to discrimination and harassment, to create an inclusive environment, to remove barriers that limit the ability of students, and to provide accommodations, where necessary." (Government of Ontario, n.d.)
Are the students who are in multiple contaminants a day contributing fully to their well being and development? Are we really removing barriers that limit these students, or are we creating other barriers for the other 34 children in the classroom? Who's right trump who's?
I am by no means saying these children do not deserve an education, I am simply saying that maybe their education is inclusive in a school setting specifically designed for them to succeed instead of a system where they are set up to fail. Our current system doesn't have enough supports in place for this to ever be equitable and all our children to succeed. How do we begin to fix a broken system that is truly fair and equitable for ALL kids? How do we protect our children from the traumas they are experiencing on a daily basis caused by the violence that is occurring in our classrooms? Ontario we need to do better.
References:2023 ETFO All-Member Violence Survey Results. (2023). Elementary Teachers Federation Ontario. Retrieved September 21, 2023, from https://www.etfo.ca/news-publications/publications/etfo-violence-survey-results
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