Violence against teachers is on the rise

Insults, harassment, physical attacks – for many teachers this is the sad reality. Two out of three teachers have experienced violence in the past five years. This is what the umbrella organization of teachers in Switzerland (LCH) writes in a statement. He wants to present a study on this on Monday.

The shocking findings are based on a representative survey of teachers of all ages in German-speaking Switzerland. Teachers are most often at the mercy of psychological violence in the form of insults, verbal abuse, threats or intimidation.

Particularly egregious: in most cases, the violence comes from the parents. But students would also become violent. Teacher Florian Huber* (30) has already experienced it.

Ball peppered in the genitals

Five years ago, before training as a teacher at the University of Education, Huber taught third and fourth grades at a Bern school as a deputy. He says: “A student repeatedly provoked me. He spoke during class and was brutal.”

During a test, the situation escalated. Because the student hadn’t been silent, Huber had withdrawn his test. «First his father complained, later the student lost all inhibitions towards me. He threatened me with violence from his father.”

But that’s not all: In a vicious act, Huber says, the student threw a ball full into his genitals. “It happened in a playful context, but the student did it on purpose, he knew exactly what he was doing.” Huber says he didn’t know how to react at the time and just laughed off the incident. And: “I missed the support of the school.”

“I was powerless”

“What surprised me the most was that a ten-year-old student could push and play me so shamelessly. I was powerless,” says Huber. He has never experienced that again – certainly not in the senior years with older students.

Only: Recent attacks show that older students can also use violence. These are shocking incidents.

• March 2022, Goldach SG: In the lower grades of a school, a teacher wanted to settle a dispute between two students – and soon got a beating from a third grader himself. Eventually the cantonal police had to leave.
• April 2019, Freiburg: A high school student grabs the teacher in the classroom, throws him to the ground and continues to beat him. The classmates have to help. The school teacher (50) sustained minor injuries. The attack takes him mentally.
• March 2018, Lucerne: A vocational school bans a 17-year-old student from home because of threats against teachers. Three months later, he nevertheless returns and beats his teacher to the hospital.

Large number of unreported cases

Physical and psychological violence can take many forms. But not all cases are made public. It has been shown, the LCH writes, that many teachers view violence as a taboo, pointing to a large number of unreported cases.

Florian Huber also confirms this. He says: “Someone who comes out of training at the age of 22 may be quieter. Students can often be angry and manipulative, as many young teachers report.” There is a lack of strategies against this, both in education and in many schools.

This is one of the reasons why the umbrella organization commissioned the study. Because there is no comprehensive data for Switzerland on how badly teachers are affected by violence. * Name changed

Blick TV will report on Monday from 10 a.m. on the media conference of the umbrella organization for teachers in Switzerland