Escalating attacks on educators: school administrators issue urgent cautionary statements
The Association of Education and Education (VBE) has released alarming findings from a survey on violence in schools, revealing a concerning trend of physical and psychological incidents.
According to the survey, 97% of physical incidents are perpetrated by students, while parents account for 79% of cases of psychological violence. The VBE is urging municipalities to be held more accountable and for financial support to be increased for safety measures.
The survey also highlights the challenges in addressing this issue, with uncooperative perpetrators, bureaucratic hurdles, and a lack of support from school authorities often impeding efforts to ensure school safety.
The VBE's federal chairman, Gerhard Brand, has expressed concern about the extent of violence against teachers and called on politics to take the protection of teachers seriously. He also documented for the first time cases of violence by outsiders, including adults blaming teachers for political decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prevention work is difficult in many places due to staff shortages, and nearly one in five school principals reported that school authorities do not want to receive reports of violence incidents.
In an effort to combat this issue, current measures focus on prevention through whole-school culture change, statutory guidance on relationships and safety education, security standards, and community-based violence prevention.
One of the key measures is the RSHE 2025 statutory guidance, which emphasizes safeguarding, sexual harassment, misogyny, and online harm, aiming to strengthen schools' role in early detection and mitigation of violence. However, surveys show many teachers feel unprepared and lack tools and training to effectively deliver violence prevention strategies.
Another measure is the ASIS International School Security Standard, which aims to create a comprehensive and consistent approach across schools in managing physical security, behavioural threat assessment, and emergency operations planning.
SchoolSafety.gov provides ongoing resources, prevention toolkits, and communication tools to schools to empower communities in creating safer environments through education and engagement.
Community Violence Prevention Programs involve schools with programs that teach communication, emotional regulation, conflict resolution, and teamwork. These are complemented by mentoring, improved social and economic policies, safe physical environments, and trauma support.
UNESCO promotes the engagement of entire education sectors and cross-sector collaboration to foster safe learning environments.
To better support teachers and ensure school safety, politics can provide comprehensive training and ongoing professional development, allocate adequate funding for school security infrastructure, counseling services, and community partnership programs, develop clear, consistent policies and legal protections for teachers, support a whole-school culture change agenda, enhance coordination between schools, community organizations, law enforcement, and public health agencies, and promote teacher participation in policy development.
In summary, while current efforts emphasize prevention through education, whole-school culture, standardized security frameworks, and community collaboration, political leadership should prioritize empowering teachers with training, resources, legal protections, and systemic support to effectively ensure school safety.
[1] [Source for teacher preparedness and training gap] [2] [Source for ASIS International School Security Standard] [3] [Source for SchoolSafety.gov resources and prevention toolkits] [4] [Source for Community Violence Prevention Programs] [5] [Source for UNESCO’s Whole-School Approach]
The Association of Education and Self-Development (VBE) has made a call to politics to take the protection of teachers seriously, citing a lack of support from school authorities and an unsettling trend of violence by outsiders as major concerns. (from the text)
To better combat violence in schools, other measures such as community-based violence prevention programs are essential, engaging schools in teaching communication, emotional regulation, conflict resolution, and teamwork. (extrapolated from the text)
