Respect for Teachers in Relation to Student Violence against Teachers

Student respect for teachers is one of the important aspects of the student-teacher relationship, which is considered an important component of the school climate. Given the significant role of the school climate in predicting students' violence against teachers, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between perceptions of students' respect for teachers and students' violence against teachers. The research was conducted with two survey questionnaires intended for samples of students and teachers, and 451 students and 102 high school teachers in the City of Zagreb participated in the research. The perception of respect for teachers and different forms of violence was examined by assessing participants' agreement on a six-point Likert-type scale (1 - strongly agree, 6 - strongly disagree). The results indicate that students and teachers, on average, feel that students respect teachers to a greater extent, and that they perceive different forms of violence against teachers to a lesser extent. The correlation analysis found a statistically significant negative association between respect for teachers and various forms of student violence against teachers. It can be concluded that respect for teachers plays an important role in explaining the occurrence of students' violence against teachers.