South Africa is recognised as one of the most violent countries across the globe. School violence against teachers is a common phenomenon at most schools. This ongoing crisis has had a negative impact on the quality of teaching and learning. Schools are no longer a safe environment for teachers. Teachers are exposed to passive and active violence,…

Students' challenging behaviour is a persisting problem in some primary schools. In South African primary schools, however, students' challenging behaviour is mainly understood as disruptive classroom behaviour. To establish how primary schools experience this phenomenon, interviews were held with twenty-one participants, purposively selected from…

The rise of violent incidents in South African schools has sparked widespread concern. Most studies on school violence focus on the experiences of learners; little attention has been paid to educators' experiences. As a result, violence against educators is both underreported and understudied. The research question prompting this study was: What…

Teachers experience learner challenging behaviour in primary schools worldwide. In South Africa, learner behaviour is undermining teaching and learning and compromising safety in some primary schools. To understand teachers' experiences of learner challenging behaviour, a qualitative data-collection approach was applied. Data from 15 teachers from…

South African primary school teachers struggle curtailing student behaviors, therefore impeding teaching and learning. To understand this phenomenon, 15 primary school teachers were interviewed. Findings reveal that students' negative family dynamics, displaced aggression, and social factors influenced challenging behavior. Social cognitive theory…

The aim of the study reported on here was to examine workplace bullying among teachers in South African schools. The research was framed by the Job Demands-Resources Model which was utilised to determine the extent of demands and resources that teachers experience and the implications thereof for creating an environment that fosters bullying and…

The 2000s saw a change in South Africa's Department of Correctional Services' theorising about adult education's potential to shift incarcerated men's thinking about their future in a proactive way. The plan was to advance active citizenship in the incarcerated. As such, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) introduced holistic, integrated…

The researchers investigate how learners with barriers to learning experience the transition to classes for learners with special educational needs. The research was conducted at a full-service school in Potchefstroom, North West province, South Africa. Interviews were conducted with current and former teachers as well as the parents of selected…

Victims' experiences of learner challenging behaviour in South African primary schools are an ongoing problem that is cause for concern, where additionally, the parents of the perpetrators are unapologetic, and defending their wrongdoing. In this scenario, there is little teachers can do to address ill-disciplined learners. In effect, teacher…

The management of ill-discipline among learners has become a serious challenge for teachers. This article reports on a study conducted to determine how teachers in the primary schools of the Matjhabeng Municipality, Free State, South Africa, manage ill-discipline among learners. A mixed method approach, which comprised a questionnaire and…

This study, undertaken at a secondary school in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, sought to research bullying--a phenomenon seen globally as a major social problem that has a serious impact on the wellbeing of children and the youth. Participants were eight Grade 10 learners, 4 male and 4 female. The research tradition was a narrative inquiry as the…

I report on an investigation into a group of Free State educators' recognition of bullying, their reactions to incidences of bullying, and their perceptions of the effectiveness of a number of bullying prevention strategies. The research instrument was a synthesis of the Delaware Research Questionnaire and questions based on findings from previous…

Microaggression is defined as subtle and often unconscious or automatic actions or statements made towards a discriminated group. It causes distress, anxiety and isolation. Microaggression can often lead to demoralisation and a feeling that one is in a constant psychological warfare. It is also ubiquitous in nature. This paper is a reflection on…

Learner-to-teacher bullying is a focus area that has not been widely researched. The current research, underpinned by the ecosystemic paradigm, examined the proportion of teachers who reported exposure to bullying by learners. The study was carried out by using the Learner-to-teacher Bullying Questionnaire developed for this research.…

We describe an exploratory, descriptive, and contextual study on the lived experiences of 17 male teachers' own aggression in the Gert Sibande district in Mpumalanga province. Individual phenomenological interviews were used to collect data from these volunteers for this qualitative research. The data were analysed by means of an open coding…