Violence in schools has been at the forefront of media attention for some time now. One of the main reasons for this is the apparently increasing incidents of violence against and among children. Media attention and the sociological issues stirred up by the situation regarding violence have prompted several studies around violence in schools, especially when directed by children and teachers against children. Violence against teachers, on the other hand, has not received similar research attention. This is therefore the focus of an article by Espelage et al. (2013), with the title "Understanding and Preventing Violence Directed Against Teachers: Recommendations for a national Research, Practice, and Policy Agenda." The introduction of the article begins by acknowledging existing focus points for studying violence in schools. It explains its research focus by claiming that not much has been done to study the phenomenon of violence against teachers within the school context. The thesis of the article is therefore to provide solid grounds for researching the phenomenon, while also creating policies and procedures for handling it. In order to accomplish this, the body of the work begins by defining school violence. The basic concepts within this definition is that violence can be physical or non-physical and that it takes place within complex social situations. Existing, if limited, literature has revealed some of the basic causes and effects of violence against teachers, including emotional impacts for teachers and social impacts for school. Interactional...

In terms of prevention techniques, suggestions are made for students and teachers at various levels, including leadership and community-level interventions. The final part of the article contains recommendations for research and policy to help address the problem of violence against teachers.
The article concludes by offering several suggestions, including increasing funding and support for education and teachers while decreasing class sizes. The potentially pivotal role of professional psychologists is also highlighted.

The opinion of the authors is that there has been significant research into general violence at schools. However, there is a great shortage of research into the specific area of violence against teachers. The authors conclude with the hope that the article will spark further research into this specific phenomenon.

My opinion is that all kinds of violence in schools are deplorable and should be curbed by whatever means possible. Violence against teachers is especially odious, since it affects not only the teachers involved, but also the general education process. Prevalence of violence against teachers will necessarily make the profession undesirable, even for those with the potential to become truly excellent professionals. As such, schools and education will suffer from a lack of excellent professionals. In the long-term, the country as a whole will also suffer. Education is one of the most important…