Educators as perpetrators and victims of school violence

A reading of newspaper articles paints a grim picture of educators as perpetrators and victims of school violence in South Africa. Yet, the majority of studies on school violence in South Africa are learner-centred. Educator-centred violence may have far-reaching consequences to the professional, private and constitutional life and rights of educators and learners. This article will attempt to fill the aforementioned hiatus in the South African school violence literature by reporting on an investigation on the exposure of Free State educators to school violence. The research instrument was an adapted version of Joshi and Kaschak's (1998) violence and trauma questionnaire. This study provides ample narrative and statistical evidence that Free State educators are victims and perpetrators of school violence. These acts of violence are contrary to the code of an educator's professional relationships, namely educator-learner, collegial, educator-parent as well as educator-community relationships. Furthermore, it was found that females and younger educators were more often the victims of most types of school violence than their male and older colleagues. The qualitative data also revealed the underlying reasons for educator-centred violence, as well as the gendered nature of the violence. Recommendations based on the most important findings of the study, are included.