Abstracts Category : Other

Workplaceviolence toward educators in private and public secondary schoolsin Pretoria Gauteng : a comparative investigation

by Annika Coetzee

Violence in South Africa is not only prevalent insociety and the home environment, but is also present in theworkplace. Although substantial research has been conducted intoschool violence and learner-focused, school-based violence, thestudy set out to determine the nature and extent of workplaceviolence that educators face; identify the effects and consequencesof workplace violence on victims; profile educators as victims ofworkplace violence with specific reference to gender, age andoccupational level; and determine the presence and role of policiesand educator participation in managing and preventingeducator-targeted violence. The comparative investigation furtherestablished difference in such experiences between private andpublic secondary schools. In pursuit of the objectives of thestudy, 274 self-administered questionnaires were delivered to threepublic and three private secondary schools in Gauteng after bothprobability and non-probability sampling methods were employed. Atotal of 122 completed questionnaires were returned. Usingdescriptive and inferential data analysis, by means of theMann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis H test, relationships,differences and similarities were determined. Both univariate andbivariate data are displayed in multiple formats. Evident from theresults and corroborating existing literature, educators in thestudy reported having experienced both physical and non-physical(verbal and social) violence, although the survey findings indicatethe latter to be dominant. Notably, educators are victimised byvarious perpetrators and the opportunity to become victimised isgreatest during classes, especially in public schools.Educator-targeted violence appears to be the result of multipleinterrelated contextual factors that result in a fear for personalsafety and far-reaching personal and professional consequences foreducators. The profile of educators as victims verified and furtherexposed various risk factors in terms of demographics andbackground. Female educators, unmarried educators, public schooleducators, educators working for long periods of time and educatorswith lower educational achievements presented greater risk ofvictimisation. Similarly, female educators and public schooleducators experienced deficits in power and control. In terms ofthe public and private divide, significant associations indicatedthat educators in public schools were more likely to experiencephysical violence, verbal violence, bullying and vandalism bylearners thus justifying their increased likelihood of feelingthreatened in the workplace, considering their school at high riskof violence, and viewing workplace violence as a serious problem.Furthermore, with a higher chance of victimisation by not beingheard, favouritism and overcrowding, public school respondents weremore likely to report lower levels of involvement indecision-making regarding school issues, which consequentlyaffected their sense of power and control in the workplace andincreased their risk ofAdvisors/Committee Members: Steyn, Francois (advisor).