Bullying in teaching

This article concerns teacher-related bullying at school. For bullying involving lecturers in higher education, see Bullying in academia.

School teachers are commonly the subject of bullying but they are also sometimes the originators of bullying within a school environment.

Incidence

Comprehensive research carried out in the UK found that teaching was one of the occupations at highest risk from bullying:^[1]

• 15.5% of teachers stating they were currently being bullied
• 35.4% saying they had been bullied over the last five years.

In another survey, the Economic and Social Research Institute found bullying to be more prevalent in schools (13.8pc) than other workplaces (7.9pc).^[2]

Complex dynamics

Parsons identifies teacher bullying as often being part of a wider bullying culture within a school, with a complex web of dynamics such as:^[3]

• teachers may be bullied by: other teachers, students,^[4] office staff, principals,^[5] school governors and/or parents
• teachers may bully: other teachers, students^[6] and/or parents
• bullying teachers may themselves get bullied by others in turn

Staffroom bullying

A common manifestation of teacher bullying is staffroom bullying where teachers are bullied by other teachers or school managers.^{[2][7][8][9][10][11]}

Manifestations

Bullying of teachers can take many forms in order to harass and intimidate including:^[12]

• face-to-face confrontation
• memos
• cyber-bullying (including the use of text messaging or social networking sites).

Bullies often exploit positions of seniority over the colleagues they are intimidating (see rankism) by:^[12]

• criticising their work
• making unreasonable demands on workload (see setting up to fail)
• sarcasm and jokes aimed at the victim
• undermining them by over-ruling their decisions and views.

In some cases, teachers are ignored and isolated by colleagues in the staffroom or turned down for promotion or training courses (see silent treatment).^[12]

Impacts

The possible impacts of bullying on teachers include:

• victimisation and victim blaming^[3]
• false accusations and fabricated formal disciplinary action^[13]
• stress symptoms such as anxiety, headaches, nausea, palpitations, and hypertension^[2]
• symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) such as a compromised immune system, sleep problems, excessive guilt, irritability, hypervigilance (which feels like paranoia, but is not), constant anxiety, reactive depression and suicidal thoughts^[7]
• loss of self-esteem^[7]
• loss of job^[3]

Notable incidents

In April 2012, Stuart Chaifetz, a father of an autistic boy, released a video on YouTube^[14] providing evidence that his son was allegedly the subject of emotional abuse at the hands of his teacher and aide at Horace Mann Elementary School, in the Cherry Hill Public Schools district.^[15] The evidence was secured when Chaifetz wired his son before sending him to school. When he listened to the audio recording, according to one news report, "Chaifetz says he caught his son's teachers gossiping, talking about alcohol and violently yelling at students. He took the audio to the Cherry Hill School District, where officials fired one of the teachers involved after hearing the tape. Chaifetz's son was relocated to a new school, where Chaifetz says he is doing well."^[16][17] Chaifetz created a petition asking for legislation to allow the immediate firing of teachers who have bullied students. As of April 29, 2012, it had garnered over 149,000 signatures.^[18]

In popular culture

Teachers being portrayed as bullies have made into popular culture, along with works with teachers being bullied by other teachers, students, and even the principal.

• Films
  • Kids in America, a group of students with help from some teachers tries to stop their bully of a principal from becoming Superintendent, realizing the harm she can cause
  • The Nutty Professor, The School Bully bullies the Professor
  • Matilda, based on the novel of the same name, a student with psychokinesis helps her fellow students and a teacher to stop a cruel principal's reign of terror in the school.
  • The Breakfast Club, Principal Vernon is often seen as a bully to the students serving detention.
  • Mr. Woodcock, the film focuses on a man who is outraged that his former gym teacher, who bullied him and his classmates, is about to become his stepfather.
  • A Little Princess, the main character is the target of a corrupt principal at a boarding school.
  • The 400 Blows, Antoine Doinel is tormented by his insensitive teacher Guy Decomble.

• Books
  • The Harry Potter series features bullying teachers, mainly Severus Snape and Dolores Umbridge.
  • British girls' comics often published bullying teachers and principals in serials and regular strips. Examples can be found in Wee Sue, The Girls of Liberty Lodge and The Four Friends at Spartan School, (Tammy), and Hard Times for Helen (Judy). Patsy and the Beast of Banchester (June) reversed the trend to show a teacher being bullied by toughs in her class.

• TV
  • iCarly, there have been episodes, like "IHave My Principals", where Ms. Francine Briggs and Mr. Howard clearly bully students, including the main characters, one of whom, Sam, is a bully herself. Mr. Devlin and Lauren Ackerman also bullied the students.
  • Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Mr. Sweeney, a science teacher, appears to be evil until the third season, where he appears to reform himself to the point of saving his students from Vice Principal Harvey Crubbs, who also bullies the students, mainly the main characters.
  • Glee, Coach Bieste is bullied by staff, including Sue Sylvester and students.
  • Home and Away, Casey Braxton is bullied by Mr Dave Townsend in Summer Bay High.
  • The Simpsons episode, Black Eyed, Please, Lisa is bullied by a substitute teacher, Miss Cantwell.
  • Grange Hill (season four, episode four) Christopher Stewart is bullied by P.E. teacher Mr. Hicks, to the point of physical injury.

• Music
  • "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" by Pink Floyd - the song tells the story about a student who dreams about seeking revenge against his abusive teachers.

See also

• Mobbing
• Personality disorders
• School bullying
• School violence
• Sexual harassment in education
• Sexual harassment and abuse of students by teachers

References

Further reading

Books

• Blase, J; JR Blase (2003). Breaking the Silence: Overcoming the Problem of Principal Mistreatment of Teachers. Corwin Press. ISBN 0-7619-7772-4. 
• Hart, N.; J. Hurd (2000). Teacher stress: the consequences of harassment and bullying. Monitor. ISBN 1-871241-31-6. 
• Horwitz, K. (2008). White Chalk Crime: The REAL Reason Schools Fail. Booksurge Llc. ISBN 1-4196-9407-3. 
• Schnall, R.S. (2009). When Teachers Talk: Principal Abuse of Teachers / The Untold Story. Goldenring Publishing. ISBN 0-578-00563-8. 

Academic papers

• Allen, K.P. (Spring 2010). "Classroom Management, Bullying, and Teacher Practices". The Professional Educator 34 (1). 
• Barnes CA A study investigating the opinions and experiences OF selected teachers regarding teacher bullying - 2007
• Delfabbro, P.; Winefield T.; Trainor S.; Dollard M.; Anderson S.; Metzer J; Hammarstrom A. (2006). "Peer and teacher bullying/victimization of South Australian secondary school students: Prevalence and psychosocial profiles". British Journal of Educational Psychology 76 (1): Pages 71–90. doi:10.1348/000709904X24645. 
• Hepburn, A (December 2000). "Power lines: Derrida, discursive psychology and the management of accusations of teacher bullying". British Journal of Social Psychology 39 (4): 605–628. doi:10.1348/014466600164651. 
• Monsvold T, Bendixen M, Hagen R Exposure to teacher bullying in schools: A study of patients with personality disorders - Nordic Journal of Psychiatry 2011 Feb 25
• Twemlow, SW; P Fonagy, FC Sacco, JR Brethour Jr. (May 2006). "Teachers who bully students: A hidden trauma". International Journal of Social Psychiatry 52 (3): 187–198. doi:10.1177/0020764006067234.  Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)

External links

• "Teachers 'bullied at school'". BBC News. April 12, 2003. Retrieved October 9, 2011. 
• Teacher suicide rate doubles

Bullying Types Abusive supervision Cyberbullying Disability bullying Gay bashing Hazing Military bullying Mobbing Parental bullying of children Passive aggression Peer victimization Prison bullying Rankism Relational aggression School bullying Sexual bullying Workplace bullying (Academia Blue collar Higher education Information technology Legal aspects Legal profession Medicine Nursing Teaching) Elements Betrayal Blacklisting Bullying and emotional intelligence Bullying culture Bystanders Character assassination Control Coercion Climate of fear Defamation Destabilisation Discrediting Embarrassment False accusation Gaslighting Gossip Harassment Humiliation Incivility Innuendo Insult Intimidation Kiss up kick down Mind games Moving the goalposts Nagging Name calling Personal attacks Psychological abuse Physical abuse Rudeness Sarcasm School pranks Setting up to fail Silent treatment Smear campaign Social undermining Taunting Teasing Whispering campaign Workplace incivility Verbal abuse Yelling Organizations Act Against Bullying BeatBullying Bullying UK It Gets Better Project Kidscape GRIN Campaign Jer's Vision Activists Andrea Adams Louise Burfitt-Dons Tim Field SuEllen Fried Andy Hickson Heinz Leymann Gary Namie Kenneth Westhues Actions Anti-Bullying Day Anti-Bullying Week International STAND UP to Bullying Day Anti-bullying legislation International Day of Pink Notable suicides (List) Kelly Yeomans (1997) Dawn-Marie Wesley (2000) Tempest Smith (2001) Nicola Ann Raphael (2001) Ryan Halligan (2003) Megan Meier (2006) Tyler Clementi (2010) Phoebe Prince (2010) Jamey Rodemeyer (2011) Jamie Hubley (2011) Kenneth Weishuhn (2012) Amanda Todd (2012) Audrie Pott (2012) Jadin Bell (2013) Rehtaeh Parsons (2013) Murder–suicides (incidents) Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (Columbine, 1999) Jeff Weise (Red Lake, 2005) Elliot Rodger (Isla Vista, 2014) Related topics Control freak Complex post-traumatic stress disorder Culture of fear Dehumanization Depression Emotional blackmail Machiavellianism in the workplace Narcissism in the workplace Personal boundaries Personality disorders Psychological manipulation Psychological projection Psychological trauma Psychopathy in the workplace Scapegoating Self-esteem Suicide among LGBT youth Sycophancy Victim blaming Victim playing Victimisation Whistleblowing

Abuse Types Anti-social behaviour Bullying Child abuse (neglect, sexual) Cruelty to animals Domestic abuse Elder abuse Harassment Humiliation Incivility Institutional abuse Intimidation Neglect Persecution Personal abuse Professional abuse Psychological abuse Physical abuse Religious abuse Sexual abuse Stalking Structural abuse Verbal abuse more... Related topics Child grooming Complex post-traumatic stress disorder Control Dehumanization Denial Destabilisation Exaggeration Lying Manipulation Minimisation Personality disorders Power Psychological projection Psychological trauma Psychopathy Rationalization (making excuses) Traumatic bonding Victim blaming Victim playing Victimisation

Aspects of workplaces Topics Absenteeism Abusive supervision Aggression Bullying Conflict Control freak Counterproductive behavior Coworker backstabbing Culture of fear Cyber-aggression Democracy Deviance Discrimination Diversity Divide and rule Emotions Employee engagement Employee monitoring Employee morale Employee silence Employee surveys Empowerment Evaluation Feminisation Fit in or fuck off Friendship Gender inequality Gossip Happiness Harassment Health surveillance Humor Incivility Intervention Jargon Kick the cat Kiss up kick down Listening Machiavellianism Micromanagement Mobbing Narcissism Office politics Performance appraisal Personality clash Phobia Positive psychology Privacy Probation Profanity Psychopathy Queen bee syndrome Rat race Relationships Revenge Role conflict Romance Sabotage Safety and health Spirituality Staff turnover Strategy Stress Toxic workplace Training Undermining Violence Wellness Work–family conflict Workload See also Corporation Employment Factory Job Office Organization Whistleblower Templates Aspects of corporations Aspects of jobs Aspects of occupations Aspects of organizations Employment

Employment Classifications Casual Contingent Full-time Part-time Self-employed Independent contractor Temporary Tenure Wage labour Hiring Application Background check Business networking Contract Cover letter Curriculum Vitæ (CV) Drug testing e-recruitment Employment counsellor Executive search Induction programme Job fair Job fraud Job hunting Job interview Labour brokering Overqualification Onboarding Personality-Job Fit Theory Person-environment fit Probation Reference Résumé Simultaneous recruiting of new graduates Underemployment Work-at-home scheme Roles Co-op Employee Employer Internship Job Numerary Permanent Permatemp Supernumerary Supervisor Volunteer Worker class Blue-collar Gold-collar Green-collar Grey-collar Pink-collar White-collar Career and training Apprenticeship Avocation Career assessment Career counseling Career development Coaching Creative class Education Continuing education Continuing professional development E-learning Employability Further education Graduate school Induction training Initial Professional Development Knowledge worker Licensure Lifelong learning Practice-based professional learning Professional association Professional certification Professional development Reflective practice Retraining Vocational education Vocational school Vocational university Mentorship Occupational Outlook Handbook Profession Tradesman Vocation Attendance Break Career break Furlough Gap year Leave of absence Long service leave No call, no show Sabbatical Sick leave Time clock Schedules 35-hour workweek Eight-hour day Flextime Four-day week Overtime Retroactive overtime Shift work Telecommuting Working time Workweek and weekend Wages and salaries Income bracket Income tax Living wage Maximum wage National average salary World Europe Minimum wage Canada Hong Kong Europe USA Progressive wage Singapore Overtime rate Paid time off Performance-related pay Salary Salary cap Working poor Benefits Annual leave Casual Friday Day care Disability insurance Health insurance Life insurance Parental leave Pension Sick leave Take-home vehicle Safety and health Epilepsy and employment Human factors and ergonomics Industrial noise Protective clothing Occupational burnout Occupational disease Occupational exposure limit Occupational health psychology Occupational injury Occupational stress Repetitive strain injury Sick building syndrome Work accident Occupational fatality Workers' compensation Workplace phobia Workplace wellness Equality Affirmative action Equal pay for women Infractions Corporate abuse Accounting scandals Corporate behaviour Corporate crime Control fraud Corporate scandals Discrimination Dress code Employee handbook Employee monitoring Evaluation Labour law Sexual harassment Sleeping while on duty Wage theft Whistleblower Workplace bullying Workplace harassment Workplace incivility Willingness Civil conscription Conscription Dead-end job Extreme careerism Job satisfaction Organizational commitment McJob Refusal of work Slavery Bonded labor Human trafficking Labor camp Penal labour Peonage Truck system Unfree labour Wage slavery Workaholic Work aversion Work ethic Work–life balance Downshifting Slow living Termination At-will employment Dismissal Banishment room Constructive dismissal Wrongful dismissal Employee exit management Exit interview Layoff Notice period Pink slip Resignation Letter of resignation Restructuring Retirement Mandatory retirement Retirement age Severance package Golden handshake Golden parachute Turnover Unemployment Barriers to Employment Depression Great Depression Long Depression Discouraged worker Frictional unemployment Full employment Graduate unemployment Jobless recovery Phillips curve Recession Great Recession Great Recession job losses List of recessions Recession-proof job Types of unemployment Unemployment Convention Unemployment benefits Unemployment extension Unemployment insurance Unemployment rates Employment rates Employment-to-population ratio Reserve army of labour Structural unemployment Technological unemployment Wage curve Youth unemployment See also templates Aspects of corporations Aspects of jobs Aspects of occupations Aspects of organizations Aspects of workplaces Corporate titles Organized labor