Startling OSSTF/FEESO school violence survey results reveal need for emergency funding

On Thursday, June 6, 2024, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) released survey results that showed that an overwhelming majority of OSSTF/FEESO members, 75 per cent, report that ‘there are more incidents of violence’ since they began working in Ontario schools, and one in three members, 31 per cent, report having personally had physical force used against them. The survey research involving teachers and education workers examined experiences with workplace violence in Ontario schools during the 2022–2023 school year and at the beginning of the 2023–2024 school year.

“The alarming results of our survey highlight a disturbing reality: violence in Ontario schools is not just a rare occurrence, but a growing threat to the safety and well-being of staff and students alike,” said Karen Littlewood, President of OSSTF/FEESO. “Every instance of violence in our schools represents a failure by the Ford government to provide a safe learning environment for students and a failure to support the caring professionals who are tasked with nurturing student growth and development.”

Dawn Hoffman, Principal Researcher at Strategic Communications, Inc. stated, “The data confirms that levels of violence in schools is high and increasing. With three out of four OSSTF/FEESO members reporting rising levels of violence in schools over the course of their careers, and upwards of three in ten having personally had physical force used against them in the last school year, we are seeing what could reasonably be called an epidemic in Ontario schools.”

OSSTF/FEESO commissioned an online survey of over 6,500 members who work in public schools from kindergarten to grade 12. The key findings are:

• Violence in schools is a critical and growing issue
• Significant numbers of education professionals witnessed or personally experienced violence in the 2023 school year alone
• The risk is greater for women, especially for those who are education workers who provide direct services and supports for students
• Members report a lack of resources and accountability
• Exposure to violence adversely impacts schools’ ability to recruit and retain qualified staff

“It’s normal for me to come home from work with bruises, bite marks, and black eyes,” said Carlin Palmby, an education worker and OSSTF/FEESO member from the Stratford area. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had chairs thrown at me or my hair pulled and even ripped from my head. The fact this has become normalized for me, and my colleagues, is a symptom of just how broken this system has become under the Ford government. It doesn’t have to be this way, but Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservative party have deliberately left our students underfunded and our support staff undervalued.”

Littlewood added, “It is unacceptable that education workers and teachers, particularly women, are experiencing violence in their workplaces. This is a systemic issue that demands immediate attention and action, especially from the Ford government.”

OSSTF/FEESO is calling on the Ford government to work with us and other education unions to implement the following four proposed solutions to stop the rise of violence in Ontario schools:

1. Emergency safe school funding—The Ford government should allocate Planning Provision funding, which currently stands at $1.39 billion, to create a new Emergency Safe School Fund to bring in more qualified staff, such as professional student support personnel, education assistants, and other education workers.
2. Stay and Learn—The province should create a dedicated tuition waiver to attract students into education programs for occupations experiencing shortages, such as education assistants and professional student support personnel. Similar programs have been introduced in health care and long-term care and are supported by the provincial government.
3. Release the data now—OSSTF/FEESO demands that the Ford government release data on serious student incident reports, risk assessments, and the Ministry of Labour’s workplace violence inspection blitz of education worksites conducted in February and March 2023.
4. Safe School Action Table—OSSTF/FEESO calls on the government to commit to the development of a Safe School Action Plan, with a Community and Stakeholder Action Table that includes OSSTF/FEESO and other education unions.

Please see the OSSTF/FEESO Safer Schools media kit for more information on the survey results. In addition, you can share your stories on the Safer Schools website.