A quarter of teachers say they feel unsafe on the job, an alarming new study from Monash University reveals.

The study, which surveyed 5000 teachers nationwide, found “verbal abuse” and “hostility” from parents made up a third of the unsafe behaviour teachers dealt with, and three-quarters of teachers feel the public doesn’t respect their job.

Lecturer in educational leadership at Monash University, Dr Fiona Longmuir, says “there’s a lot of complex factors” contributing to teachers feeling unsafe.

“Some of those respondents suggested student behaviour and parent interactions were part of the problem,” she told Ross and Russel.

“The other major factor that we found with those 25 per cent was their mental health and their dealing with the stress and workload, and increasing expectations in their work.”

Press PLAY below to hear why teachers feel unsafe