Globe & Mail: Study Warns Violence in Ontario Schools is at ‘Crisis Levels’ for Teachers and Education Workers

The increase in violence is compounded by the food insecurity many families are facing and other socio-economic stressors. Classroom at Hunter's Glen Junior Public School in Toronto, on Sept. 14, 2020.

Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

A teacher being pulled by her ponytail over the back of her chair by a student. Students biting, punching and kicking their teachers.

Students threatening their teachers, or using racial and homophobic slurs towards them.

This type of workplace violence in schools across Ontario is now so frequent that it has reached crisis levels, says a new report by researchers from the University of Ottawa released last month.

“There needs to be widespread acknowledgement that schools have changed,” said Chris Bruckert, a criminology professor and one of the study’s authors.