A one-week survey of over 1000 teachers in Ireland, 31% of whom in Dublin, has shown that 20% of teachers have been harassed or abused by students. Most teachers’ classes have been interrupted at least once during the week. Parents are bound to be shocked by the results of the survey, which reflect alarming levels of violence and mistreatment. Around 21% of teachers observed physical violence between students in that week alone.
The survey was carried out by the Teachers Union of Ireland among 58 schools with more than 28 000 students in total. Informed sources claim that the situation with insubordination on the part of pupils is critical. It does not seem to be getting any better. It takes at least 10 minutes for teachers to deal with a single incident of indiscipline. The biggest problems teachers face are related to violence, terrorization and commotion in classrooms. The Union wants radical legislative amendments, granting more privileges and powers to academic institutions and making it easier to suspend and expel persistently troublesome individuals.
Principals promise to take effective measures, but the teachers facing these problems daily are not very hopeful. They claim that regardless of the measures taken, real change in the classrooms will be hard to achieve. 44% of teachers said that they were exhausted from dealing with the problem. Some even considered quitting their jobs.
It must be stressed that the survey pertains solely to high schools. Ireland and specifically Dublin are renowned for their achievements in higher learning. A shining example is Trinity College in Dublin, which enjoys international fame. It is the sole constituency of Dublin University. Trinity College is one of the top 100 universities of the world, while Cambridge and Oxford rank among Dublin University’s sister colleges. Trinity College is famous for its scientific publications, and is considered the main research center in the country. It has around 50 sports clubs, famous journalistic publications and many other student clubs in all possible categories.
Trinity College has taken a hard stance on this issue. Its Anti-Bullying Center distinguishes four types of bullying – online, extortion, exclusion and gesture. The so-called e-bullying involves use of web pages, e-mail and other online applications to abuse and intimidate fellow students. Extortion involves demands for money, equipment and material goods in general. Non-verbal gestures are commonly used to intimidate and harass people. Bullying by exclusion is the approach to isolate fellow students, making it hard for them to defend themselves. The Anti-Bullying Center offers advice on combating such incidences.
Ireland.com
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