{"id":2933,"date":"2019-07-17T16:38:15","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T16:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/?p=2933"},"modified":"2022-02-26T12:42:08","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T12:42:08","slug":"1-in-5-school-staff-assaulted-weekly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/education\/1-in-5-school-staff-assaulted-weekly\/","title":{"rendered":"1 in 5 school staff assaulted weekly?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The survey data was misinterpreted by ICTU. 1 in 10 of those surveyed experience physical abuse at least once weekly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Are one in five school staff assaulted once a week?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A headline in the Belfast News Letter<\/a> of 21 March 2019 states \u201cOne in five school staff assaulted once a week in Northern Ireland\u201d (sic). The newspaper reported the findings of a survey of education workers by the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Committee of Trade Unions (ICTU) Education Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During October 2018, 1,427 members of the ten trade unions affiliated with ICTU were surveyed: 1,133 teaching union members and 294 members of support staff unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICTU\u2019s press release<\/a> states that \u201c1 on 5 receive physical abuse ONCE a WEEK\u201d (sic).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The press statement quotes Denise Walker, the Chair of the Education Group:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you work in one of Northern Ireland’s schools in a support role you could be one of the 51% who have been subjected to a physical incident at work. 43% of whom reported having been a victim of physical violence weekly\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

43% of the 728 who responded as being subject to any physical incident would indeed mean that 22% of all surveyed members (1,427 respondents) experience violence or physical abuse weekly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the document<\/a> presenting the survey results reveals different figures. 46.4% of respondents (665 out of 1,427) had experienced any violence or physical abuse, rather than Walker\u2019s press release figure of 51%. And out of the 665 respondents who had experienced any violence or physical abuse, the document reports that 21.6% of them (instead of the 43% figure quoted in the press release) said that they are experiencing such abuse at least once a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These full results reveal that 10% of those surveyed (144 out of 1,427) are experiencing violence or physical abuse on a weekly basis. The \u201c1 in 5\u201d claim only refers to people who had ever experienced such abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results also show that 53.6% of school staff surveyed have never experienced violence or physical abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ICTU inaccurately presented the findings of its education workers survey in their press release. As a consequence, it was misreported by the Belfast News Letter. The survey found that 1 in 10, rather than the claimed 1 in 5, of education workers experience physical abuse at least once a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image: Photo<\/a> by Alexander RATHS<\/a> used by license Dreamstime.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

FactCheckNI is Northern Ireland\u2019s first and only dedicated independent fact-checking service and a verified signatory<\/a> to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles<\/a>. You can learn more about about FactCheckNI<\/a>, our personnel<\/a>, what our article verdicts<\/a> mean, and how to submit a claim<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The survey data was misinterpreted by ICTU. 1 in 10 of those surveyed experience physical abuse at least once weekly. Are one in five school staff assaulted once a week? A headline in the Belfast News Letter of 21 March 2019 states \u201cOne in five school staff assaulted once a week in Northern Ireland\u201d (sic)….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[37,172],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n1 in 5 school staff assaulted weekly? - FactCheckNI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/education\/1-in-5-school-staff-assaulted-weekly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1 in 5 school staff assaulted weekly? - FactCheckNI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The survey data was misinterpreted by ICTU. 1 in 10 of those surveyed experience physical abuse at least once weekly. 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