The master's work explores the phenomenon of violence against pedagogical workers by parents of pupils. In the theoretical section, I discuss the significance of workplace well-being and its importance, workplace conflicts in comparison to workplace violence, the evolution of the teaching profession and its reputation, pedagogical workers as victims of violence, the legal and formal protections available to them against violence, and strategies for reducing workplace violence.
In the empirical portion, I investigate the experiences of eight pedagogical workers employed in various educational institutions concerning violence from parents of pupils. My research focuses on the following areas and research questions: the types of violent behavior they have encountered and how frequently; their responses to violence and the available forms of support; the exercise of their rights related to violence prevention in their work and the effectiveness of these measures; their familiarity with violence protection documents and their opinions on protection and support in the event of workplace violence. I am also interested in the methods and principles they recognize as potentially effective in preventing future violence. During the interpretation and analysis of the results, I continuously examine the disparities between theory and practice, particularly regarding the protection of pedagogical workers through legal foundations and provisions.
The results of the master's work indicate that the majority of pedagogical workers experience verbal violence in their workplace (61%), followed by psychological violence (49.5%), online violence (17%), physical violence (15%), sexual violence (7%), and economic violence (6%) from parents of students. This violence is recurrent in half of the cases. Additionally, pedagogical workers experience fear, sadness, shock, and some longer-lasting consequences such as insomnia, chronic stress, medication therapy, and extreme caution in all interactions with parents. When violence occurs, they often do not immediately recognize it, but those pedagogical workers who do report it to their management (principal) believe that management is responsible for protecting employees from violence. Based on the obtained results, I categorize violence prevention into several levels of responsibility, including the personal level, institutional level, and systemic or social level.
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