New research from the University of Ottawa has found Ontario's education sector workers live with increasing rates of violence inside their schools as austerity cuts continue to compound a worrying trend.
Highlights
- Incidence of students punching, biting, kicking, and throwing things at their teachers and educational assistants has increased exponentially says uOttawa study
- Overcrowded classrooms, underfunding, dwindling professional health and social services create the perfect storm for increased workplace violence
- Nearly half of respondents also experienced parent-initiated harassment
- Women, 2SLGBTQIA+, disabled workers and racial minorities experience elevated levels of harassment and/or violence
The report 'Running on Fumes: Violence, Austerity, and Institutional Neglect in Ontario Schools' surveyed nearly 6,000 Ontario education sector workers (both teachers and support staff) about the 2022-23 academic year, uncovering a distressing picture of life inside the province's schools.
"Workplace violence in Ontario schools remains the best-kept secret," says Dr. Chris Bruckert, Chair of the Department of Criminology who launched the Violence and Harassment Against Educators Project in 2018 with report co-author Dr. Darcy Santor, a Professor of Psychology at uOttawa's Faculty of Social Sciences.
"Schools are not the same as they were a decade ago. Students may well be witnessing violence against (particularly women) workers daily, evacuating their classrooms, experiencing general distress and fear and struggling to learn in large and complex classes where support is lacking, and violence is normalized."
Bruckert says decades worth of deep austerity-driven cuts and systemic privatization have left publicly funded education in Ontario in a dire state. The survey's findings tell a story, including:
- Rates of violence are outrageously high and increasing exponentially and are increasingly framed as "part of the job."
- Women, 2SLGBTQIA+ and disabled workers experienced higher levels of student harassment.
- Racially minoritized workers were more likely to have their experiences minimized, be blamed, or experience a reprisal.
- Nearly half of respondents experienced parent-initiated harassment.
- Workplace violence is profoundly impacting student learning and well-being.
- Worker retention is threatened by the pervasiveness of workplace violence.
- Austerity-driven cuts and institutional neglect have created the conditions for escalating workplace violence.
The disturbing normalization of workplace violence within Ontario's schools is a trend found in Bruckert and Santor's work, with a previous study confirming things have worsened in the years since.
"Funding for Ontario's publicly funded education system is declining at the same time as needs are increasing. This report highlights some of the ways this lack of investment has translated into overcrowded classrooms, fewer educational assistants, limited material and physical resources, dwindling professional health and social services, and delayed and unequal access to assessments for students. These are exactly the conditions that exacerbate workplace violence," says Bruckert, who has been researching, teaching, and mobilizing against gendered violence for over 25 years.
Darby Mallory, a doctoral student and one of the authors on the study, adds "The public must be made aware of the consequences of the systematic underfunding of our education system, particularly as it is our children who are paying the price."
Mallory, D., Bruckert, C., Ismail, H., and Santor, D. (2025).Running on Fumes: Violence, Austerity, and Institutional Neglect in Ontario Schools. Ottawa, ON (Report).
