Female teachers may feel they are more at risk from violence in the classroom "but it's across the board", says Olive Cornelia who teaches in Co Tipperary.
"You are not always talking violence. It can be intimidation. It can be rough words. It can be just unacceptable speech and attitude. There can be personal comments passed about people, maybe to a pregnant woman. They are the sorts of things we have learned not to accept in society but they haven't infiltrated yet into schools. Sometimes it's just a lack of knowing how to behave."
She welcomed the Minister for Education's decision to review the policy on appealing an expulsion or suspension as most students won their appeals. "A school would rarely take on an expulsion but where they do there's usually a very sound reason. Then the student is returned and there's a sense of I've won the battle, I can do what I like. It's an almost impossible situation for everyone."
The discipline problem in schools began in earnest when corporal punishment was banned, said Denis Magner, who teaches in Tullamore, Co Offaly.
"There was nothing introduced instead of it. When I went to secondary school we had corporal punishment and I know it was abused. But you don't get rid of something because a small few people abuse it. You need some kind of deterrent to stop these people misbehaving and at the moment there doesn't seem to be anything."
Dublin delegate Aideen Mulcahy said she had never been physically afraid of a student in her 25 years of teaching. "But there are times when you feel maybe a student has stepped over a line and you are worried that they might have taken drugs or something. Then you can be in a difficult position."
She said today's students were much more aware of their own rights and their own identities. "And they want to express that in the classroom. That's good but it's also very difficult because you are trying to teach.
"There would be certain groups and classes that you would think more than twice before you would turn around to write on the blackboard. You just have to be aware of safety whereas years ago that would not be an issue.
"But there are also children in schools from quite disturbed backgrounds and you have to look after them. At the same time you are trying to help other students get good grades. It's quite a juggling exercise."
Most teachers agree that disruptive students are making their lives more difficult, according to Mayo delegate Tony Deffely. "It isn't that they are bad kids. It's just that there are bad conditions. Some people come to school with all sorts of social problems. We want to do our best for them and we want to do our best for the children who are anxious to learn."
