Unsafe Feelings Among Teachers

Abstract

Teachers feeling unsafe in front of their classes tend to show a reduced commitment to their educational task. This can have a negative effect on pupils' performance and may cause behaviour problems. Feelings of unsafety are generally associated with pupils' antisocial behaviour.

We examined this proposition and found the correlation between the two factors to be less direct than is generally supposed. Subjective criminality-related factors (subjective victimization risk and own victimization experience) and well-being (including job perception, satisfaction with the pupils) are very important intermediate factors.

Measures intended to reduce teachers' feelings of unsafety should, therefore, not focus directly on pupil behaviour but on the situation in which the teacher has to work. More in particular, attention should be paid to the development of a positive image of and a respectful attitude towards young people, to teamwork and teacher support, and to the optimization of conditional factors (class size, work pressure, etc.).

The research material was collected via questionnaires completed by 1,432 teachers from 91 schools and secondary analyses of questionnaire data from 4,829 pupils (12 — to 18-year-olds) from the same schools. To complement the questionnaire data, twelve focus groups with teachers and eight with pupils were organised.

Key Words:

• Teachers
• safety
• victimization
• well-being
• Belgium