The Victimized Teacher- Investigating teachers' experiences of victimization in India

• In Event: Teacher Education: Investigating Lived Experiences, Pedagogy and Practices

Proposal

Introduction-
Widespread global presence of school violence has been a concern for educators across the world (UNESCO, 2017) and due to its detrimental impact on students, it has received significant attention from media and academicians (Espelage et al., 2013). However, most of this research is limited to evaluating its impact on students only (Anderman et al., 2018; Espelage et al., 2013; Wilson et al., 2011). Teacher victimization remains an understudied area (Longobardi et al., 2019; Reddy et al., 2013).
Teacher victimization can be defined as "multi-systemic actions perpetrated against teachers within the social contexts of schools, neighborhoods, and social media" (Anderman et al., 2018). It can be seen as a communication process in which a teacher is subjected to an interaction that they perceive as insulting, upsetting, or intimidating (Kauppi & Pörhölä, 2012b). Such interactions may either be repetitive and prolonged, or stand alone acts of severe intensity. It may be premediated or opportunistic, and a single or repeated instance of short or long duration (Billett et al., 2019, Espelage et al., 2013; Kauppi & Pörhölä, 2012a; McMahon et al., 2014). Examples of teacher victimziation could range from serious disruptions in classrooms to being physically assaulted, and in extreme cases- murdered.
Teachers could be subjected to victimization by different stakeholders- students, parents of the students, colleagues, principal, and school management (Longobardi et al., 2019, McMahon et al., 2014). Although verbal and physical abuse of teachers is prevalent across the world (Hilsdon & Randell, 2012), much of the research in this area is concentrated in parts of the United States and Europe (Longobardi et al., 2019). Some empirical studies have also been conducted in parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia (Espelage et al., 2013; Longobardi et al., 2019). The research is still nascent in India, where the intersection of caste, religion, region, language, and gender serve as a unique context likely playing a role in shaping teachers’ experiences. This, along with the culturally revered role of a teacher, provide a unique setting to study the experiences of teachers in the Indian context.
In India, some researchers have investigated victimization of teachers by principals, school management, fellow-teachers (see, Sinha & Yadav, 2017; Yadav et al., 2020), but student-led teacher victimization remains an underexplored. Currently, only one study has estimated the rate of teacher victimization- Garg (2017) reported high rates of victimization in 98 schools of Punjab (56 rural and 42 urban). Calling offensive names was most common, with 50% of students in rural and 45% of students in urban schools reporting that they used offensive names for the teacher(s). Other types of victimization included shouting at, hitting, threatening and socially defaming a teacher. However, the respondents for this study were the students, and hence there is a likelihood of under-reporting of victimization.
Moreover, there is dearth of research in the teacher victimization literature that qualitatively captures the experiences of the teachers. It for these reasons, I believe that it is essential to study aspects of this phenomenon in greater detail, especially from a teacher's perspective. Hence, in this study, I analyze the instances of victimization as experienced by the teachers.

Method-
Sample:
In studies like this, due to the sensitivity of the research question and the perceived label of being an ineffective teacher, teachers are often hesitant to respond (Yadav et al., 2020). Hence, I used snowball sampling technique in which the respondents were asked to refer the possible respondents for the interviews. Such sampling technique is particularly helpful in cases where it is difficult to reach out to a population or when using the official communication route is likely to bias the responses of the participants (Yadav et al., 2020).
Data Collection and Analysis:
Five semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data from the teachers of Delhi NCR (India). Since the study is a work in progress, more interviews are currently being conducted. A directional interview tool kit was prepared and the interview lasted for 25~30 minutes. The teachers did not receive any compensation for their time. Guided by the recommendations of Braun and Clarke (2006), the interviews were coded using a thematic analysis.
Result-
Following themes emerged in the analysis: (a) Overburdened teachers- Teachers feel that they were unnecessarily burdened (for example, forced to come to school despite no work) by the school management, (b) Community-based groupism within teachers- based on caste, religion, region, (c) Caste-based discrimination from the fellow teachers- Slurs being made (d) Threatening by students and parents- for being failed in the exam, scolding students, (e) Disparities in salary disbursements.
Contributions-
Teacher victimization is an under explored topic, especially in Indian context. This study makes multiple contributions: (a) first study to look at multi-stakeholder victimization of teachers in India, (b) contributing to emergent literature from non-western countries in this topic, and (c) one of the few studies to capture in-detail the experiences of the teachers.
Limitations-
Despite its many contributions, the study also has some limitations. First, since the study is a developing work, the number of respondents is less. Second, snowball sampling makes generalizability difficult. Third, due to snowball sampling, it is difficult to use any school or student-level characteristics that can drive the experiences of the teachers. Fourth, the interviews are based on teachers’ experiences and hence there is a common source bias. Despite this, I believe that due to the sensitive nature of the topic, making the study multi-informant might dilute the quality of data.
Implications and Significance for policymakers-
Currently, there is a lack of measures to ensure the safety and well-being of teachers. While teacher victimization can be an everyday experience for some teachers, schools generally pay attention only to more severe incidents. The study's findings must be used to encourage discussions and generate awareness within the school. Teachers must be encouraged to seek support within schools. Teacher trainings and sensitization can be designed to help teachers cope with stress induced due to such incidents and effectively empower them to address this issue.

Author

• Shreya Sharma, IIM Ahmedabad