The Meaning of Violence, Justice, Training, and Administrative Support for Teachers

Abstract

Teachers are experiencing violence at work at an alarming rate. Violence against teachers has become a national and international issue. However, there has been little discussion on the issue. The research questions pertained to how teachers experienced justice and violence at work and if they received training or adequate support before and after the violent incident. The research used a social constructivist conceptual model, and organizational justice was used as a theoretical framework. An inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze the semantic data. The data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis, which created semantic data that were coded at the latent level. The research revealed information that coincides with the research’s literature review, such as, teachers that experience violence at school suffer emotional and psychological stress, teachers perform poorly, with higher levels of stress when they perceive unjust treatment at work. Also, the data revealed teachers felt anxiety, fear, and isolation when the administration did not support them or blamed them for the violent incident. Limited studies use organizational justice as a framework in elementary education research; more research illuminating the voices of teachers and their experiences with violence at school decreases violence at school by promoting a more positive school climate.