Respecting students: Abusive classroom teacher verbal behaviour

Abstract

This qualitative study examined classroom Teachers verbal abuse by reviewing a sample of the decisions of the discipline committee of the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT).  Data were collected from the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CANLII) online database, which provided a record of all the OCT discipline committee decisions, with supplementary data from Professionally Speaking, the magazine of the OCT, as well as the OCT’s website.  Data revealed that verbal abuse is present in Ontario classrooms, and measured responses and related methods of dealing with teacher misconduct are derisory at best and slowly evolving. Investigated cases of verbal abuse in the classroom were reviewed and illuminated the progress that has been made in dealing with Teacher verbal abuse in schools, while providing suggestions for improvement. Male Teachers are often offenders and the impact on all stakeholders is both life-changing and serious. In sum, any delay in effectively dealing with complaints and disciplinary matters is unacceptable as it stands and must be fixed to protect students from abuse.

Keywords

• Teacher behavior
• abuse in classrooms
• teacher discipline
• legal issues