Stabbed, headbutted, feces thrown; CUPE reports violence in Sask schools

Schools are a place to learn and grow, but they can also be violent for education support workers in Saskatchewan.

CUPE did a confidential survey involving more than 1,000 education support workers, highlighting the increasing levels of violence facing workers in the K-12 education sector.

It found more than 70 per cent of those workers were victims of violence over the past three years. Of those workers, 40 per cent said they experienced violence daily, weekly or monthly. Eighty per cent of the violence comes from students, although the union made it clear it is not putting the blame on them.

The five most common examples of violence directed at workers include being yelled or sworn at, struck with a hand or foot, scratched, emotionally abused and being struck with object, either through hitting or throwing.

Jackie Christianson, chairperson of the education workers steering committee, said the workers also provided examples the union didn’t even think of adding as an option to choose from.

They included getting stabbed with a pencil, head-butting and feces or urine thrown or directed at the person.

“Our members across Saskatchewan are facing unacceptable levels of violence in our schools. Budget cuts, increased classroom sizes, and more students with complex needs are leading to more violent incidents,” said Christianson.

The report makes a number of recommendations including expanding violence prevention training and require mandatory occupational health and safety training for all supervisors and administrators working for school divisions.

Given that only 40 per cent of workers who experience violence reported the incident, Christianson also stressed the importance of educating workers on what they can and can’t do.

“The workers don’t know their rights. They don’t know they have a right to refuse. They don’t even know that they’re supposed to be reporting this stuff,” said Christianson.

She said sometimes when they do report violence, workers are told its part of their job, saying there’s a “suck-it-up” culture.

One respondent, who remains anonymous, said in the report that violence from students is increasing and “supervisors and admin act like (it’s) part of the job and it’s happening everywhere.”

“I can tell you, no one signed up to be attacked. Nobody signed up to be violated. We’re not blaming students for that. We know that’s part of our job, but we have rights as workers to be safe in the school too and that’s what’s failing right now,” said Christianson.

Comments made by other workers show the violence is taking its toll, both physically and emotionally. One said, “I shouldn’t have to go to work and be physically assaulted on a weekly basis. If things don’t start changing I don’t think I will be doing this job for much longer.”

Education Minister Gord Wyant said violence has no place in any workplace in Saskatchewan.

He admits people don’t quite understand what the process is to report violence but says it’s important to report it in order for the province to properly address the issues.

He wants to make sure workers know their rights and doesn’t want violence to feel normalized.

“If that’s the attitude, if people think that it’s normalized, we need to do some work in de-normalizing that. We want to get the reports in so we can make sure that there are processes in place,” said Wyant.

He explained violence in the classroom is part of the reason the province recently formed the class size and composition committee. He said that committee will try to alleviate some of the challenges brought up in the report.