This report provides an overview of a research project with the primary goal of examining trends and predictors, negative consequences, and school administrators’ responses to teacher victimization.
The authors of this final report discuss trends and patterns of seven different types of teacher victimization over four years. Through this research, the authors seek to achieve three goals: to address limitations of previous research on the topic of teacher victimization by investigating trends and predictors, negative consequences, and school administrators’ responses to teacher victimization; to inform policymakers and school administrators on how to develop and implement comprehensive intervention and counseling programs aimed specifically at repeatedly victimized teachers; and to provide valuable information in understanding how school administrators respond to teacher victimization and whether those teachers are satisfied or dissatisfied with the outcome due to identifiable elements of the intervention, particularly within the context of procedural justice. The authors present results of multivariate analyses, specifically focusing on victimizations via verbal abuse and non-physical contact aggression, in order to demonstrate risk factors related to victimization. The authors also examine teachers’ satisfaction with school responses, physical distress, and emotional distress. Results highlighted the high prevalence of various types of victimization, especially verbal abuse; 42 percent of teachers in the sample were found to belong to the mid-stable and high-stable groups, indicating that victimization is a pervasive problem; teachers tended to be dissatisfied with schools’ responses to their victimization; victimization has serious negative effects on emotional and physical wellbeing; and the teachers’ perception of procedural justice is significantly related to satisfaction level regarding school responses.