The Current Situation, Characteristics, and Countermeasures of the Verbal Abuse to Students by Elementary School Teachers: An Empirical Study of Four Provinces and Cities in China

Abstract

The negative impact of the verbal abuse on student by the elementary school teachers is a big issue. A total of 416 students from four provinces and cities in China were enrolled in this study. We found that the occurrence rate of the verbal abuse by elementary school teachers was not high, whereas it still caused psychological trauma to students once happened by manifesting as the frustration of learning efficacy, self-confidence and interrelationship. Regarding the causes, student’s poor academic performance was the major reason, and it was significantly related to students’ gender, i.e., male students who had poor academic performance were far more vulnerable to be verbally abused by their teachers. Further, the study also found that students who were verbally abused by teachers were more easily bullied at school. The findings suggest that the government and schools should take joint measures to clarify the specific boundaries of teachers’ verbal punishment to students and standardize their verbal behavior to get teachers respect and care for students and create a healthy learning environment.