'It’s not the job of the teacher to be hit': Winnipeg Teachers’ Association

The Winnipeg Teachers’ Association wants to encourage its members to report acts of violence or threats of violence.

“It’s not the job of the teacher to be hit, kicked, slapped or called names in the course of doing their job,” said Kristin Insull, President of the Winnipeg Teachers’ Association (WTA), the union representing all instructional staff within the Winnipeg School Division.

Insull said a year-end report from the Winnipeg School Division showed that during the 2016-2017 schoolyear, its members reported the equivalent of one violent incident for every six-day cycle. That works out to be about 35 incidents reported that year.

“From having spoken with teachers at school visits and other meetings with members we know that number should be a lot higher in terms of reported incidents,” Insull said. She believes incidents often go unreported because some staff aren’t aware of reporting procedures or because some are hesitant to label a child as violent.

In 2015, the WTA did a survey that found only about 50 per cent of its members were “very aware that there was a policy or procedure to report violent incidents in schools.”

“There’s also a connotation of the word violent that teachers are sometimes hesitant to apply to a child with special needs,” Insull said.

Sherri Rollins, a trustee with the Winnipeg School Division, is introducing a Notice of Motion at Monday night’s school board meeting, which aims to strengthen the division’s safety protocols. Her formal pitch is in response to the WTA pointing out how half its members weren’t aware of reporting procedure. Rollins’ four-step approach includes education and training for teachers, an awareness campaign to encourage staff to report incidents, and an impact study.

“Like all workplace health and safety issues, it’s really important to stay active and create formal mechanisms and that training should be ongoing,” Rollins said.

“If you make sure that that school environment is safe for teachers then in some important way you’re making sure that the school environment is safe for children and students,” Rollins said.