Valérie Pécresse affirms that half of the teachers have already suffered an attack at some point in their career. There is indeed an Ifop study on the subject, but no official data. Explanations.
For Valérie Pécresse, it takes a “shock of authority” in France to protect certain professions, such as teachers. Guest of RTL on Wednesday July 5, the president of the region Ile-de-France said “that one out of two teachers in their career will be attacked.”
There is indeed an Ifop study from 2021 which makes this observation, on the morale and working conditions of teachers, but there is no official study which lists the attacks to which teachers are victims in France.
Mainly insults and slanderous remarks
Valérie Pécresse relies on an Ifop survey, carried out at the end of 2020 among 800 teachers. In detail, it is a question of aggression on the part of students or parents of students and in the majority of cases, it is about insults or slanderous remarks. Physical attacks remain in the minority.
This study also shows the number of teachers who say they have been attacked during the previous school year, between 2019 and 2020. Over this period, one in five teachers surveyed say they have been attacked. This same study also says that nearly nine out of ten teachers questioned have the feeling of being respected by the students or of being safe in the establishment where they work.
No official figures, but an old INSEE study
The Ministry of the Interior tells us that there is no “official data on attacks on teachers specifically.” He specifies “that when registering a complaint in France, the profession is not always specified, the gendarmes are obliged to do so, but not the police.” This explains why no reliable estimate or statistics are possible.
On the other hand, an INSEE study looked at professions exposed to threats and insults. It dates from 2014 and was carried out over six years. According to this study, each year, on average 12% of National Education staff had declared being the subject of threats or insults in the exercise of their profession. Physical attacks remained in the minority, 0.6% of the teachers questioned said they had already suffered them. We also learned that National Education personnel do not suffer more thefts and physical violence than other professions.