Number of primary teachers who feel unsafe doubles since 2016

<p>There is a growing number of primary teachers who feel unsafe in their classroom&comma; according to the new<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nzeimediareleases&period;cmail19&period;com&sol;t&sol;r-l-jktiliud-thhtttjjit-y&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer"> survey from NZCER&comma; which<&sol;a> shows 24&percnt; of primary teachers occasionally felt unsafe in their classroom&comma; up from 12&percnt; in 2016&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>NZEI Te Riu Roa President&comma; Liam Rutherford&comma; says the findings are deeply concerning and show the need for urgent investment in learning support and addressing teacher workload&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Having one in four primary teachers feel unsafe in the classroom is completely unacceptable&period; This shows just how urgent increased investment in specialist learning support is&comma; along with addressing teacher workload&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>The survey found that only 46&percnt; of primary teachers thought their workload was fair and only 38&percnt; thought their work-related stress was manageable&period; A quarter thought their workload was so high that they could not do justice to the students they taught&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;These issues are interlinked&period; The more time teachers have to work on building relationships with students exhibiting extreme behaviour&comma; the better the outcomes will be&comma;&&num;8221&semi; says Mr Rutherford&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Ultimately the measures we take in schools won&&num;8217&semi;t fix the underlying societal issues that contribute to extreme behaviour&period; This shows just how important it is that the government continues to invest in a wellbeing approach and be bold in tackling child poverty and domestic violence&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;