Ontario school workers report growing violence as funding cuts continue

A new study from the University of Ottawa shows that workers in the education sector in Ontario continue to exacerbate the worrying trend of austerity reductions, and so are living with an increase in violence rates within schools.

The “Violence, Violence, Austerity and Institutional Lack of Ontario Schools” report examined nearly 6,000 Ontario Educational Department workers (both teachers and support staff) for the 2022-23 grade schools and found disastrous photos of life within provincial schools.

“Workplace violence in Ontario schools remains the best secret,” says Dr. Darcy Santor, professor of psychology in Muottawa in 2018, and Dr. Chris Brookert, chair of the Department of Criminology, who launched the Violence and Harassment Project in 2018.

“Schools aren’t the same as they were 10 years ago. Students may witness violence against workers every day (particularly women) and evacuate classrooms, experience general pain and fear, lack of support, and struggle to learn in large, complex classes where violence is normalized.”

Bruckert says decades of deep austerity and systemic privatization have made Ontario’s publicly funded education disastrous. The findings of the survey tell a story that includes:

The rate of violence is incredibly high, exponentially increasing, increasingly at face value as “part of work.” Women, 2SLGBTQIA+ and disabled workers experienced high levels of student harassment. Racially minoritized workers were more likely to minimize their experience, be blamed or experience retaliation. Almost half of respondents experienced parent-initiated harassment. Workplace violence has had a major impact on students’ learning and well-being. Worker retention is threatened by the widespread use of workplace violence. Austerity measures and institutional negligence created conditions for increasing workplace violence.

The disturbing normalization of workplace violence within Ontario schools is a trend seen in Brookert and Santor’s work, and previous research has confirmed it has worsened for years.

“Funding for the publicly funded education system in Ontario is declining at the same time as the need increases. The report highlights some of the ways in which this underinvestment has been transformed into overcrowded classrooms: education and mobilization for gendered violence for over 25 years.

Derby Mallory, a doctoral student and one of the authors of the study, adds, “The public must make them aware of the consequences of the systemic lack of funding in the education system, especially since it’s our children who are paying the price.”