Teacher Responses to School Violence in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

Although researchers have been interested in the psychological impact of school and community violence on children in South Africa, little work has been done on the effects of exposure to school violence on teachers. de Wet's exploratory study of South African teachers and administrators is an exception, although her focus was on student bullying of school personnel that included violence, rather than violence per se. Because there is so little research on the impact of school violence on educators in South Africa, we took an exploratory approach conducting four focus groups (and one in-depth interview) to investigate the impact of school violence on educators. Specifically, the research focused on school violence and its social and psychological effects from the perspective of educators in South Africa. The research also included a standardized measure of exposure to violence and victimization, and a measure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Eight major themes emerged in the focus groups and interview; the most common theme was frustration and the fourth most common theme was actually teacher aggression and the use of corporal punishment as a response to learner violence. The findings are discussed in the context of violence in postapartheid South Africa, and in terms of social-psychological theories of violence and sociological perspectives on "mock" bureaucracy and role breadth. Possible interventions to reduce social and psychological distress as well as school violence are also discussed.

Skollies in My Skool - Menings Wat Saak Maak/Skollies in My School – Opinions That Matte

“…Skoolbendes is egter nie net 'n Kaapse probleem nie. Dit kom ook in ander provinsies soos Gauteng en Kwazulu-Natal voor (De Wet, 2016, Shields, Nadasen & Hanneke, 2015.…”

“…Daar is veskeie redes waarom skoliere aan bendes behoort. Die belangrikste redes waarom hulle by bendes aansluit, is volgens verskeie navorsingstudies, 'n behoefte aan identiteit, groepsdruk asook ekonomiese redes, soos die basiese behoeftes aan kos en klere en om veilig te voel in hul gemeenskappe (Magidi, 2014;Pertus & Kinnes, 2019;Pinnock & Doughlas-Hamilton, 1997;Shields et al, 2015;Van der Merwe & Swanepoel, 2017;Wijnberg, 2012).…”

“…Alhoewel daar verskeie studies oor bendes op die Kaapse Vlakte bestaan (Pertus & Kinnes, 2019;Magidi, 2014;Shields et al, 2015;Van der Merwe & Swanepoel, 2017), is daar baie min studies wat op skoolbendes fokus. Leemtes in navorsing sluit in die redes waarom skoliere by bendes aansluit, asook die intervensie met lede wat by bendes betrokke is deur professies soos maatskaplike werkers en ander professionele hulpverleners (Breen, Daniels & Tomlinson, 2019;Magidi, 2014).…”

Victimización del personal de la escuela hacia estudiantes referidos a proyectos de integración escolar

“…La mayor parte de los estudios empíricos que consideran a los profesores y otros integrantes del personal de la escuela (school staff) preguntan a éstos su percepción sobre el nivel de violencia entre estudiantes (Bradshaw, Sawyer, & O´Brennan, 2007) o bien, la violencia o victimización que ellos reciben por parte de los estudiantes (Shields, Nadasen, & Hanneke, 2015). Son pocos los estudios que preguntan a los estudiantes por el nivel de victimización que reciben por parte de sus profesores o personal del centro escolar.…”

Interrupting school violence with deliberative encounters

“…A number of examples attest to learners' experiencing school as an authoritarian encounter. Although corporal punishment is illegal in South African schools, it continues to be used by teachers (Shields, Nadasen and Hanneke 2014). It has been found that principals dominate decisionmaking in South African schools while learner participation is moderate (Mncube and Harber 2013: 23-24).…”