Teachers report a range of aggressive behaviour from parents, including insults, mocking and insolence, as well as abusive public messages on social media. (Photo: iStock) 
A lot is being said in the media about aggression towards staff in schools, especially teachers. Is this a shadow of our fractured past and the glaring socioeconomic pressures of the present?
Or is it an echo of a history in which education was an instrument of oppression and authority figures were not to be trusted but resisted? Has the legacy of mistrust towards institutions filtered through generations, normalising confrontation?
A crisis is unfolding within the walls of South Africa’s schools. Aggression manifests itself in raised voices in principals’ offices, threatening messages and, sometimes, physical confrontations. The relationship between parent and teacher, once a cornerstone of a child’s education, is under strain, increasingly influenced by a tide of aggression that has deep and tangled roots.
The school seems to have become a pressure valve for frustrations that have nowhere else to go. This is not surprising as the school remains one of the most accessible faces of authority, for parents grappling with the immense weight of socioeconomic despair.
Parents’ aggressive behaviour towards teachers is multifaceted and manifests in ways including verbal abuse, physical threats and confrontational behaviour around the world.
In a 2023 study in the US, Understanding Parent Aggression Directed Against Teachers, McMahon and colleagues identify patterns and contributing factors:
Triggers and contexts: Common triggers for parental aggression include disagreements over school discipline, academic performance and the perceived inadequacy of school services. Situations that involve disciplinary action or academic performance often lead to confrontational behaviour from parents, and this also appears to be the case in the South African context, judging from conversations I have had.
Forms of aggression: Teachers report a range of aggressive behaviours from parents, including insults, mocking and insolence, with psychological violence being more prevalent than the physical form. Verbal aggression includes threats and derogatory remarks.
Perceptions and reactions: Teachers often feel blamed, manipulated and frustrated by parents’ confrontational behaviour. There is a significant impact on teachers’ emotional wellbeing, with many reporting feeling unsupported and unsafe.
Aggressive behaviour from parents towards teachers can have significant psychological effects. A 2021 Turkish study, Let Me Have a Seat and See What’s Going On In This Class, found that teachers reported feeling frustrated, blamed and manipulated by parents, with psychological violence such as insulting, mocking and insolence.
The US study mentioned earlier found that exposure to students’ aggressive behaviour increased the risk of burnout among teachers, highlighting the need for preventive initiatives.
Although research provides insights into the psychological effects, strategies for management and some underlying causes of aggressive behaviour from parents towards teachers, there is limited writing on the legal implications. Unclear or unenforced legal regulations can lead to disputes between parents and teachers.
Social media and aggression
Parents’ aggression towards teachers through social media and email is also an emerging and troubling aspect with significant consequences. A 2021 Australian study by Blade and Campbell found 24% of surveyed secondary teachers had been targeted by students or parents, mainly via Facebook, email and phone.
The impact on teachers is severe, harming their wellbeing and professional performance. Those bullied by parents and students suffer negative effects, and even witnessing such attacks causes emotional distress among staff. Harassed teachers reported reduced involvement in social media.
This cyberbullying includes aggressive emails from parents, causing anxiety and diverting teachers from core tasks. There are also public social media attacks involving verbal abuse and the spread of falsehoods. In response, teachers often employ individual coping strategies such as sharing experiences or ignoring the abuse, but systemic support is crucial.
Strategies to deal with aggression
Several studies have documented ways to mitigate and manage aggressive behaviour from parents. These include training programmes for teachers that can enhance their skills in managing confrontational situations and reduce power struggles.
Clear communication channels and policies can help to address conflicts proactively. Parents need to be informed and involved in school activities such as parent workshops, which can foster understanding.
Schools need to create a supportive environment where teachers feel safe and backed by the administration. This includes having clear protocols for handling aggressive incidents and providing emotional support to teachers. Additionally, one study emphasised the importance of social support from colleagues and supervisors in mitigating the association between pupils’ aggressive behaviour and burnout among teachers.
The Department of Basic Education and teacher unions should introduce policies and support systems to assist teachers who are victims of aggression and bullying. This could include counselling services, professional development and clear protocols for dealing with aggressive behaviour from both pupils and parents.
The South African situation
The teacher striving to maintain order and teach is often caught in the crossfire of this desperation. A complex shift in dynamics has eroded the respect once given to teachers, mirroring a broader societal questioning of authority figures, from politicians to the police.
Compounding this is a defensive mechanism where some parents, seeking to protect their children from the hardships they may have endured, immediately side with their child against the teacher, interpreting discipline as a personal affront.
Systems designed to foster partnership, like school governing bodies, can become arenas of power struggle rather than bridges for dialogue. When formal channels fail or are seen as ineffective, frustration boils over into direct and often hostile action.
The breakdown is exacerbated by the normalisation of violence as a tool for conflict resolution, a sad reality in a country like ours. Children and adults alike are exposed to this daily modelling, which makes aggression a default response rather than a last resort.
Underpinning it all is a palpable fear for the future. Parents see education as a lifeline for their children and when the system isn’t working, whether in poor results, overcrowded classrooms or a lack of resources, their anxiety and anger are directed at the most immediate target. The teacher can become a scapegoat for systemic failures.
The perfect storm of historical baggage, economic pressure, eroded trust and normalised aggression has created an environment where teachers are increasingly on the front line of societal breakdown. Understanding these deep fractures requires not just enhancing security, but a collective effort to heal the fractures that run beyond the classroom. DM
Dr Mark Potterton is the director of the Three2Six Refugee Children’s Education Project.
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
