Violence against education staff in N.W.T. on the rise, union says
The number of violent incidents against education staff in the Northwest Territories has steadily increased over the last 20 years, according to data from the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC).
Rita Mueller said she can remember, last spring, when a 13-year-old student assaulted a teacher so badly they broke the bones in that teacher’s hand.
“That student is going to be coming back to the school and there’s going to be even less support,” said Mueller, the president of the N.W.T. Teachers’ Association.
She says it’s just one example of a broader increase in classroom aggression happening across schools in the Northwest Territories.
For decades, WSCC has been accepting more violence-related claims for education staff — that includes teachers, teacher’s assistants, principals and counsellors.
The number of approved claims from the WSCC in the early 2000s was two or so claims a year, before gradually rising.
The number of approved claims took a dip in the years most schools across the North were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming out of the pandemic, however, approved claims related to violence are now higher on a yearly basis than they were before.
These accepted claims, according to the commission, include “both intentional and unintentional acts of violence, as well as harassment and bullying.”
Mueller says more classroom aggression reflects an underfunded education system. And the accepted claims alone don’t capture the entire scope of the issue. While she says the union always encourages teachers to report these types of incidents, she knows many often don’t.
“What we hear from teachers are, ‘What’s the point of reporting? It takes all this time to document. And in the end, I submit it to my employer and absolutely nothing changes in the classroom or the school setting.’”
‘Slapping, kicking,’ other classmates, teachers
Mueller says she hears from teachers in charge of younger classrooms (junior kindergarten to Grade 6) about an increase in aggression that can take more violent forms.
“In some cases, it’s students that are slapping, kicking, spitting [and] scratching, other classmates or their teachers,” Mueller said.
In contrast, older grades tend to see more verbal assaults and bullying, she noted.
“Our schools need behaviour specialists. They need to have people that are specializing in what are the best approaches, activities, programs and supports for children with these kinds of needs,” said Mueller.
Earlier this year, the government of the Northwest Territories announced $35 million to fill the hole left in its budget after the near $60-million loss through Jordan’s Principle.
Mental health key to good education, expert says
Angie Holstein, a trauma therapist and the founder of Toronto-based Shanti Psychotherapy, says having mental health supports in school matters because mental health is part of intellectual health. She says those services are key to mitigating risks like substance abuse, crime and incarceration.
Without them, Holstein says it means putting more work onto teachers, which can cause burnout.
“It is not possible for teachers to wear all these different hats of behaviour specializations, diagnostics, as well as the emotional counseling support,” said Holstein.
For the Northwest Territories, where staffing and retaining teachers can already be a challenge, these added problems risk making it even harder to get teachers to work up North, she says.
“Teachers are going to think really long and hard about putting themselves in a situation,” Holstein said.
Holstein says her own province of Ontario is also seeing a rise in classroom aggression. Other parts of Canada, including Nova Scotia and Quebec, have also reported increased violence toward teachers.
CBC News asked to speak with N.W.T. Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland, but she wasn’t immediately available for an interview.
A spokesperson for the department said the territory is committed to maintaining safe and respectful workplaces and takes all reports of workplace violence seriously.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Nunavut education department launches school violence data tracking system, CBC News
Finland: Connection to nature, concern for environment amongst results of Sami youth survey, Eye on the Arctic
Greenland: Nunavut children’s books translated for circulation in Greenland’s schools, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Creating youth links key to driving Canadian-Norwegian cooperation, conference hears, Eye on the Arctic
Sweden: Can cross-border cooperation help decolonize Sami-language education, Eye on the Arctic
