Abstract

This study explores risk factors and reports on suggestions on how to address learner-on-teacher violence in South African schools. A four-level socio-ecological model underpins the study theoretically. SA Media is the databank. The data source is 57 newspaper articles published in South African English language newspapers. The author used qualitative content analysis to organize the data thematically. The study finds that newspaper articles emphasize the characteristics of the perpetrators and the victims, the perpetrators’ home environment, learner misbehavior, troubled learner–teacher relationships, the disintegration of community life and social degradation as risk factors for learner-on-teacher violence. The study exposes the retributory and reactive, rather than a proactive, approach toward victims and perpetrators of violence. The study highlights the importance the role players interviewed by the journalists place on teachers, parents, and community leaders in defusing volatile learner-teacher relationships and inspiring positive ethical values among learners as well as in South African society. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on an under-researched topic, illustrates the use of newspaper articles as a data source when studying learner-on-teacher violence, and emphasizes the need for the development and implementation of a comprehensive anti-school violence program.