On its website, School & Safety states that aggressive behavior almost always has a trigger. In many cases, it arises from frustration, anger, fear, powerlessness or a lack of information and/or miscommunication. By preventing these triggers, you reduce the likelihood of aggressive behavior, according to School & Safety.

The focus then shifts to the classroom, the team and the school.

In the classroom

As a teacher, you work on two levels in the classroom to reduce aggressive behavior:

  • By preventing it.
  • By taking action when it occurs.

Clear (behavioral) rules and frameworks

What do you tolerate and what do you not tolerate at school, and how is enforcement organized? Ensure that there are clear behavioral rules, both at classroom level and throughout the school. Be clear about sanctions for aggressive behavior.

Classroom management

In every group, people try to establish their position. This also applies in the classroom. During the stages of group formation, the ‘storming phase’Group formation progresses through different stages has the greatest likelihood of conflict and negative behavior. The teacher plays an important role in actively guiding the group process and providing direction to the group.

Social-emotional learning

Many pupils experience feelings of powerlessness and frustration. By focusing on social-emotional learning, you help pupils deal with these emotions. They learn how to express these emotions and how to communicate and deal with conflicts effectively.

Listening

You can prevent frustration by paying attention to and listening carefully to the other person's needs. If someone is very angry, there may also be fear underlying it, for example.

What if it does happen anyway?

An aggressive parent, a shouting pupil or a colleague who is furious. Deniz Dogan – an expert in difficult and aggressive behavior – distinguishes between anger and aggression in his approach. According to Dogan, anger is an emotion that deserves attention. Aggression, on the other hand, must be bounded.

Further reading

In the team

Reducing aggressive behavior is not something you do alone. It is a concern and responsibility of the school and the team. What can you do?

Discussions with the team and school leadership

A socially safe school requires ongoing dialogue. Create space to discuss, for example, differences in views on acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Talk to one another about how to deal with aggression, to express uncertainty, but also to have a say or ask questions.

Further reading

The website Clear about aggression – an initiative from youth care and care services – contains a great deal of information that is also suitable for education. For example, the Aggression Guide is intended to create clarity within the team about how to address aggression.

At school level

Of course, you also address aggressive behavior at school level. What should you do?

Behavioral rules

Communicate the jointly established agreements and sanctions to staff, pupils and parents. Establish the frameworks properly in the school guide and make them visible on the school website.

Monitor safety

Does everyone feel seen and heard? Do pupils feel safe? By monitoring this and addressing areas for improvement, you also reduce the likelihood of aggressive behavior.

Hold discussions

A socially safe school requires ongoing dialogue. Create space to discuss, for example, differences in views on acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Talk to one another about how to deal with aggression, to express uncertainty, but also to have a say or ask questions.

Clear communication

Ensure a clear flow of information. When providing routine information, consider which means of communication you use for which message and when you choose to deliver it.

Ensure staff safety

Every education professional is entitled to a safe working environment. The school leadership is responsible for staff safety. Staff members’ sense of safety can be measured in an annual monitor. The Social Safety Monitor in and around schools (2018) shows that ‘verbal violence against staff occurs most frequently: 17% in primary education and 21% in secondary education.

Provide a point of contact

Make sure it is clear where and with whom parents, pupils and staff can express dissatisfaction or file a complaint. The school's confidential adviser is the point of contact for undesirable behavior, including aggression.

Learn from an incident

Whether it was pupils who got into a fight or the aggression was directed at you, you would rather not experience such a thing again. It is important to review the incident once more together with those involved. You can do this by asking questions such as:

  • Does problematic behavior occur more often at the same location?
  • Is there sufficient supervision there?
  • Does everyone address one another about problematic behavior, or does that task always fall to the same people?
  • Did the sanctions ladder and the protocol work sufficiently, or do we need to adjust them?

The answers to these questions provide a good picture of how incidents are being handled.

The best approach sometimes lies at pupil level (a pupil who needs support), sometimes at group level (because it is related to dysfunctional group dynamics) and sometimes at teacher level (due to a lack of pedagogical competence). It may also be useful to determine whether this concerns frustration-aggression or provocation-aggression (threatening, intimidating, and so on).

It is important that everyone involved feels a shared responsibility during the evaluation of an incident. After all, it is important to everyone within the school that it does not happen again.

Aftercare and support

In addition to lessons for the school and its staff in general, it is also important to monitor the recovery and/or aftercare of the teacher involved. Once the adrenaline has subsided, the impact and emotions may suddenly surface – precisely because of the calm and reflection. In addition to reactions such as fear or anger, there may also be denial, minimization (‘it wasn't that bad...’), and/or self-doubt. It is important for those involved to process the event properly themselves.

Tips

  • Acknowledge that you have experienced a shocking event
  • Talk about it
  • Allow yourself to relive the experience
  • Stay active
  • Seek professional help if the symptoms persist for too long

The primary education dossier also covers Cooperation with the community and Laws and regulations. There are also separate dossiers for secondary education and vocational education.