Over 1,100 serious threats and violent incidents, as well as near-misses that posed a risk to life and health, were reported to the Work Environment Authority last year. The corresponding figure has been around 800 in recent years.
We are seeing a serious development at the elementary level, where students are hitting, biting, and throwing things, says Simon Sandström, chief safety representative for the Swedish Teachers' Union in Stockholm, to Dagens Samhälle.
By mid-September this year, 750 reports had been submitted to the authority. Simon Sandström estimates the actual number of incidents to be five to ten times higher than those reported. At younger ages, physical violence is more common, while at higher levels, threats are more frequent, he says.
Teachers may be told that they will be killed, shot, or stabbed. And when a 14-15-year-old says something like that, there can be serious intent behind it, which triggers enormous stress and fear.
The trade union's Stockholm branch wants to see more emergency schools, where students can be quickly transferred if they are expelled from their regular school, and for these schools to be opened up to students in lower and middle school as well.
