Challenges experienced by public secondary school teachers in the application of the legal framework for their safety

Abstract

The safety of teachers in public schools is important for the creation of a conducive teaching and learning environment. The application of the South African legal framework should ensure that teachers work in a safe environment. The phrase ‘teacher safety’ refers to the safeguarding of teachers from harm, including physical, psychological, and emotional injury. Sec. 12 of South Africa’s Constitution (1996) ensures teachers’ safety, and various local and international studies have examined their safety. The existing studies lack an exploration of the way in which the legal framework has been applied to ensure teachers’ safety from violence in public schools. The investigation reported in this article pivots on the following research question: What challenges do public secondary school teachers experience in applying the legal framework for their safety? To respond to this question, qualitative research was conducted. Data were collected using semistructured interviews. Purposive sampling was used to recruit ten experienced participants (five teachers and five principals) from five public secondary schools in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District of the North-West province of South Africa. The data were then thematically analysed. The main finding of the study is that, while there are sufficient legal measures that regulate teachers’ safety, there is a lack in the application thereof to ensure teachers’ safety in public secondary schools. This is one of the contributory factors to violence against teachers. The existing legal framework provisions should be applied by teachers to safeguard them against violence.