How School Administrative Support and Perceived Strategy Effectiveness Contribute to Teaching Assistant Victimization By Students: School Climate Factors As Mediators

Background/Purpose: The issue of school staff victimization has emerged as a critical concern in educational settings. Recent literature has demonstrated that a supportive administrative environment and effective behavioral management strategies can significantly reduce aggression and victimization toward school staff. However, while these factors have been identified as important contributors, the underlying mechanisms through which they influence staff victimization by students remain less explored. In addition, these studies predominantly focus on direct interactions between students and teachers, often overlooking teaching assistants (TAs), who are frequently recommended by special education and student study teams to provide classroom support. This oversight occurs despite TAs often facing higher risks of acting-out behaviors and physical harm due to their close interaction with students.

The current study addresses these research gaps by exploring how school organization factors, such as school administrative support and perceived strategy effectiveness, impact teaching assistant victimization by students through school climate factors (i.e., teaching assistant and student relationship problems, positive school culture, and student behavioral problems) with a national teaching assistant sample.

Methods: The sample of this study is from the second wave data of a national online survey designed by the American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Violence Against Educators and School Personnel. The survey was conducted from 2021 to 2022 and was open to relevant pre-K-12 school personnel. Participants were from all 50 states and Puerto Rico, yielding a large convenience sample. The final sample includes 1129 teaching assistants.

Results: The structural equation modeling results indicate that the proposed model fits the data well (X² = 719.640 (df=254, p< 0.001) CFI=0.952 TLI=0.943 RMSEA=0.045 SRMR=0.045). School administrative support was directly associated with both verbal and physical victimization while perceived strategy effectiveness did not have direct impacts on victimization. In terms of the indirect effects, results showed that both school administrative support and perceived strategy effectiveness had significant indirect impacts on verbal and physical victimization through student behavioral problems. There were no significant mediation effects in the other two school climate factors: teaching assistant and student relationship problems and positive school culture.

Conclusions and Implications: The research findings direct research and policy attention to the systemic factors within schools that can protect teaching assistants from aggression, highlighting the nuanced roles these factors play in shaping school climate and safety. The direct correlation between administrative support and reduced victimization underscores the need for school leaders to actively foster a supportive environment for teaching assistants. Administrations should prioritize the implementation and communication of effective behavioral management strategies, as their indirect influence through modifying student behavior is significant. This approach may contribute to a more positive school climate and help to enhance teaching assistants' safety.