Occupational Trauma?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve worked in an emergency department for many years. ERs often see people who are having a terrible day. Some have suffered trauma, some are responding badly to an overdose or tragic news, many are struggling with a concerning situation involving themselves or people they care about, some have simply waited for enormous amounts of time with little comfort.

Most handle these stresses with considerable aplomb and dignity. Occasionally staff is threatened, or someone has a knife or gun and needs to be reassured and gently talked to, or physically or chemically restrained if no reasonable alternative exists. Each case is different, sometimes the instigator has limited awareness and is not entirely at fault.

Most ER staff have been involved in one incident like this or another. Surveys suggest some 70%, which seems low.

On a few occasions, I have treated teachers in the ER. There is no doubt teachers who work with certain struggling students can get hurt or face difficult situations.

A news piece I saw today featured unionized teachers protesting violence in schools. No doubt it can be a serious issue. What surprised me were the statistics they quoted, which said 55% “faced violent or disruptive situations every day”, with 96% of teaching assistants and over 80% of teachers saying they had been in violent or disruptive incidents.

Concerning. But there is likely an enormous difference between a violent incident and a disruptive one, though these things are often spectra. I am tempted to think there is a degree of overreaction here. However, I have occasionally seen evidence, COVID seemed to have shortened the collective fuse, and I don’t want to dismiss what I don’t have personal experience with.

So I ask Dopers for their comments, noting I am Canadian and the teacher’s protest happened in Toronto, Ontario. School shootings seem to be very rare in Canada thus far. There is occasional news of religious schools facing vandalism and threats, but this might only apply to a small percentage of schools. Of course I could be wrong, in which case you might better inform me.

2

I left teaching a long time ago, but my friends who are still there say they’ve had a lot of physical altercations. Never mind school shootings. There are fights between students, students assaulting teachers, etc, and they say it’s fairly common.

Some kids don’t understand consequences will occur. Worse, some do understand and just don’t care.

3

A relative of mine spent about 40 years teaching in ‘bad’ schools. I remember she was threatened with a gun once. In that case, I don’t know that there was an actual gun present, but a student still suggested he was going to shoot her. She also got punched once and pushed to the ground once or twice. While it’s not a lot in 40 years, I’m guessing most teachers go their entire career without getting punched even one time.

Another person I know teaches at a school with a more open concept and from what I’ve heard from him, once a fight gets started, the entire school is quickly aware of it which makes matters worse.

And, nowadays, cell phones make things even more difficult. From time to time there’s a story in the news where there’s some sort of conflict in the school and people call their friends who show up and join in the fight or parents showing up and attack teachers.

4

I can absolutely see being threatened occasionally, and this can be quite serious. But facing these things every day? 55%? In Canada?

5

My wife works in a public school kindergarten classroom. You should hear her stories. Most kids are good, but some are horrible. She’s got one boy in her class who will literally kick, bite, and scratch teachers if he doesn’t want to do what they tell him.

6

Yes, that kindergarten kid I mentioned attacks the teachers one way or another just about every day. My wife comes home crying sometimes.

7

Even if every kindergarten teacher has an highly aggressive child, which seems a stretch, kindergarten might only account for 5% of teachers. Without minimizing your wife’s experience, I am genuinely curious as to what situations your wife regularly encounters that would be well beyond expectations. I am also interested in how these things have changed over time, and by COVID specifically.

8

I’d bet money that kid has a developmental disorder or two. Or lives in a violent home. Or both. It’s just that schools lack the resources and sometimes the expertise to really give these kids what they need. And of course if the parents are reinforcing such behavior it is made all the worse. I really feel for teachers, especially because they are so often blamed for student outcomes.

And when we talk about trauma, it’s really the invalidating environment and sense of helplessness that makes it traumatic. Being in situations like that all the time where you feel you can’t escape and have no support - that can absolutely look like a trauma response.

9

Oh he definitely has some kind of psychological problem. But the school district won’t do anything without a professional opinion, which is not easy to get.

10

I have worked in child welfare for more than 30 years.
I have been threatened/attacked numerous times but not daily.
Once I was locked in a house while a pit bull was brought in the back door to intimidate me. Outside I could hear the police screaming at me to unlock the front screen door.
Another time a client threw a kitchen knife at me in a house and it stuck in the wall about a foot from my head.
I’ve been a supervisor since 2007 so the threats are mostly all verbal now.

11

As a former ER nurse I’d like to point out an important difference between the ER and a classroom. Most teachers are alone with the students, no other adults nearby. Most ERs have at least some staff within yelling distance. Being trapped in a classroom with a closed door would, I would think, make the situation more traumatic.

12

That’s a fair point.

13

Excellent point. Never been a teacher, but I taught a lot.

I’m retiring in mid December. My job is to teach and train people on the code I’ve written (It’s well documented).

I work remote. All of us can. But I can’t convince the other people on the team to wear a headset so I CAN HEAR THEM. Instead they gather around a laptop and use it’s speaker/mic.

We are well paid, hell, work would buy them as needed equipment, but no, they try to talk and listen to a laptop. I told them I would buy them.

My brothers wife is on the phone (works from home all day) but will not wear a headset. She says it smooshes her hair. She never leaves home. :roll_eyes: :person_facepalming:

And who cares. Serious issues there.

14

I am currently teaching online. When I was in a brick and mortar school, I had significant interactions with students ranging from weekly, to daily. Biting, punching, objects thrown in my direction, threats on my life, etc., were all par for the course. But, that being said, I knew what I was getting myself into and I loved my students, even the little girl who threatened to kill me more than once. However, it certainly did wear on me and contributed to my having to take a break from teaching for several years. The break was necessitated due to increasingly worse suicidal ideation and self-harm thoughts.

So, yeah, quite the bit of occupational trauma on my part.

15

Not to make light of that ghastly experience but I’m curious …

Are these various threats and attacks coming from 6yos, 8yos, 12yos, or 17yos? There are lots of ways for overgrown toddlers to issue blood-curdling threats they have no ability to carry out. 17yos? Very different matter.

16

I call this type of child a “classroom terrorist” because, basically, they hold an entire classroom hostage because of their disruptive and violent behavior. It’s a crime that child is still allowed to come to a mainstream classroom every day and do what he does.

We have 2 specialty schools affiliated with ours. The ECHO school deals with children like that, and that allows our teachers a lot more real teaching time with their students.

17

My neice was a kindergarten teacher in a well-off public school. The presence of unmanageable classroom terrorists in every class caused her to resign her lifelong dream job after 2 years.

She was unable to teach 30 kids because one or two were just psych cases with parents deep in denial and a system that required “mainstreaming” every kid, no matter how incapable they were of participating in ordinary classroom activities.

18

I’ve a SIL and niece that where both teachers. They both resigned/quit/retired because of the rules teachers must follow to interact with a child.

They could not hug, or in anyway touch a child that was experiencing any sort of trama. It could be from the playground. Or perhaps it was trama at home.

19

In my wife’s case: 5 years old. A few 4 years old.

20

I cannot imagine how teachers navigate all of the demands placed on them. I do not advocate corporal punishment, but ISTM that there are often insufficient tools for dealing with “unruly” students.

Maybe not exactly what the OP is asking about, but I often wonder how social workers, grief counselors, and the like deal with hearing peoples’ misfortunes day after day. I’m sure they try their best to assist their clients, but that strikes me as though it would be quite draining over the long run.