Indicator 5: Teachers Threatened With Injury or Attacked by Students

Students are not the only victims of intimidation or violence in schools. Teachers are also subject to threats and physical attacks, and students from their schools sometimes commit these offenses. In the Schools and Staffing Survey, teachers were asked whether they had been threatened with injury or physically attacked by a student from their school in the previous 12 months. A smaller percentage of teachers reported they were threatened with injury by a student from their school in 2003-04 (7 percent) than in 1993-94 and 1999-2000 (12 and 9 percent, respectively; figure 5.1 and table 5.1). Teachers were also less likely in 2003-04 than in 1993-94 to report having been physically attacked (3 vs. 4 percent; figure 5.1 and table 5.2).

Teachers in central city schools were consistently more likely to be threatened with injury or physically attacked than teachers in urban fringe or rural schools between 1993-94 and 2003-04 (figure 5.2 and tables 5.1 and 5.2). For example, in 2003-04, some 10 percent of teachers in central city schools were threatened with injury by students, compared with 6 percent of teachers in urban fringe schools and 5 percent of teachers in rural schools. Five percent of teachers in central city schools were attacked by students, compared with 3 percent of teachers in urban fringe and 2 percent of teachers in rural schools.

In 2003-04, gender differences in the victimization of teachers were apparent (tables 5.1 and 5.2). Although a larger percentage of male than female teachers reported having been threatened with injury (9 vs. 6 percent), female teachers were more likely than their male counterparts to have been physically attacked (4 vs. 3 percent).

In 2003-04, teachers' reports of being threatened or attacked by students varied according to the level of their school. Secondary school teachers were more likely than elementary school teachers to have been threatened with injury by a student (8 vs. 6 percent; table 5.1). However, elementary school teachers were more likely than secondary school teachers to report having been physically attacked (4 vs. 2 percent; table 5.2).

Public school teachers were more likely than private school teachers to have been threatened with injury (7 vs. 2 percent) or physically attacked (4 vs. 2 percent) by students in school (figure 5.2 and tables 5.1 and 5.2). Among teachers in central city schools, those in public schools were at least five times more likely to be threatened with injury than their colleagues in private schools (12 vs. 2 percent) and at least four times more likely to be physically attacked (5 vs. 1 percent).

Public school teachers' reports of being threatened with injury or physically attacked varied among states. In 2003-04, the percentage of public school teachers who reported being threatened in the previous 12 months ranged from 4 to 18 percent (table 5.3), and the percentage who were physically attacked ranged from 1 to 7 percent (table 5.4).