The teachers ask for support: “I get a headache” • Hateful expressions and anti-Semitism
A majority of all upper secondary school teachers encounter racism, sexism and antisemitism at work, according to a new survey from Sweden’s Teachers.
It is about students who offend both classmates and teachers – and it is becoming more and more common in younger grades.
In Sweden’s Teachers’ new survey conducted this spring, teachers testify that disparaging, offensive and hateful comments have become part of everyday life in many schools in Sweden. It reports We Teachers If.
The problems start already in preschool and primary school, to increase in middle school and become worst in high school. Staff from after-school centers and upper secondary schools have also participated in the investigation and they are also raising the alarm about problems with racist and sexist comments, both towards students and teachers.
The problem creeps down with age
In pre-school, primary school and after-school classes, every third teacher says that they have major problems with hateful and offensive expressions.
But it is worst in the upper secondary school, where two out of three teachers state that they have heard or seen students express themselves in a racist, anti-Semitic or LGBTQ-derogatory manner.
And how to handle the hate and threatening situations that arise is something that many teachers feel unsure about, above all the violations that take place outside of class time.
– I do not have the necessary tools to deal with students who express anti-democratic views or disparaging comments against marginalized groups, states a teacher in the survey.
The teacher testifies: Is time always “on its guard”
Another teacher says that the violations have made him constantly “on his guard”.
– It causes the body to tense up involuntarily, I get headaches, find it difficult to recover and have bad sleep.
Almost half of all teachers who responded to the survey think that they receive quite or very little support from the school management to work with students who offend others.
At the same time, the number of reports of threats and violence at school is increasing, according to the Swedish Work Environment Agency.
– But even violations that do not involve threats or violence can constitute a work environment problem. There is also no sharp line between what is a violation and what is a threat, says Kristian Hansson who is an expert at the Swedish Work Environment Agency to Vi Lärare.