During the first quarter of 2011, 82 incidents had been reported in which teachers were subjected to violence from students in the workplace.

The targeted faculty become victims of physical or mental abuse from the pupils.

Sweden’s National Education Minister, Jan Björklund, hopes that a series of measures, such as the right to move culprit students, will improve the situation.

Members of the Teachers’ Association, Lärarnas Riksförbund, are doubtful that such solutions will prove effective.

And Sweden is not alone in its escalation.

As a wave of violence in schools continues to rise throughout Europe, the Council of Europe’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education took note earlier this year and called for the creation and instalment of effective educational policies against violence at school.

The Assembly adopted a set of guiding principles for education against violence and challenged all member and observer parliaments to endorse them at a national level, supporting schools administratively, logistically and financially.

The nature of violence described by the Council includes attacks acts of hostility and even aggression against teachers by pupils as well as acts committed by pupils with or without weapons, bullying and harassment among pupils, sexual violence, and the use of violence by teachers against pupils.