The violence that teachers are exposed and the evaluation of their coping strategies

Abstract

In this research, the violence that teachers are exposed to by students, parents, colleagues and directors, and their coping strategies have been examined. In this cross-sectional study, the scales were conducted on 1020 teachers working at the high schools in the central districts of Kayseri city. According to the findings, it is determined that the teachers use the emotion-focused coping attitudes most intensely. Positive reinterpretation and growth among the emotional coping methods rank first, planning among the problem-focused coping methods ranks second and active coping method ranks third. Significant relationships have been found between the sub-dimensions of the demographic characteristics of the teachers and coping strategies. The findings related to by whom teachers are exposed to violence (students, parents, colleagues, directors) and what kind of violence they are exposed to (psychological, verbal, physical, sexual) have been discussed in the frame of coping strategies. Significant findings were also obtained from intercultural comparisons as a result of investigating teachers' coping strategies on a large scale in terms of socio-demographic and violence variables. In addition, both teachers and other educational stakeholders have come up with highly variable, interrelated links to addressing the linkages of coping strategies and dimensions of violence.