ATL

A quarter of education staff have been bullied by colleagues - ATL

Of those who have been bullied, half have been bullied by a member of the leadership team, 26% by a head of department and 22% have been bullied by a teacher or lecturer.

A quarter stated they have been bullied by a pupil and 23% by a parent or carer. ATL questioned over 900 teachers, lecturers, support staff and school leaders in schools and colleges across the United Kingdom.

Over half (56.1%) said this bullying happened several times over a quarter (27%) said it happened frequently or regularly.

Seventy-three per cent of those who have been bullied said that it taken the form of negative comments, whilst 57% said it has taken the form of verbal insults or derogatory comments. Almost half (46%) said they were victims of intimidation (threats, shouting, been sworn at) and 43% said they have suffered emotional or psychological abuse as a result.

Reasons vary why education staff have been bullied with 41% believing it happened because the person concerned disliked them, and 12% said they believe it was because of their age. However, 32% were not sure why they were bullied at all. Some members said that they thought the person bullying them felt threatened by them.

A head of department working in an academy said: "I was persistently picked on and undermined by a colleague, and no member of the senior leadership team would take it seriously and take action. Following a poor set of results my whole department have been spoken to in a way I would never wish to be spoken to again. As a consequence two are leaving and others would if they could."

A secondary teacher from England said: "I was driven from a previous job by a headteacher who was suffering from stress. This manifested itself in her lashing out at everybody around her. I found myself on the receiving end of her behaviour. I asked for help from other members of the senior management but none of them was prepared to do anything. I was just one of a number of staff in that school who were driven from their jobs or went off on long-term sick-leave due to stress as a direct result of the headteacher's behaviour."

A member of support staff working in a secondary school in England remarked: "A new support staff member started at my school. I had been there for many years and had earned respect from staff. She seemed to resent this and began making derogatory comments. If I was asked to 'show her the ropes' she would imply that she knew it already. She began gathering troops and I felt marginalised."

A Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator in an independent school admitted: "I am currently being bullied by my headmaster. I now dread coming into school."

Seventy-two per cent of respondents said that the bullying has caused them stress and 66% stated that it has caused them anxiety. Over half (59%) said it has made them consider changing jobs and 47% said it has made them consider leaving the profession.

Worryingly, almost half of respondents didn't report the bullying to their school or college and of those who did report it, 52% were not happy with the way their school or college dealt with the incident.

A primary teacher from England remarked: "I didn't report it as the person bullying was the head teacher." Whilst a secondary teacher from England said: "I dealt with it myself - knowing I had the support of branch secretary if needed."

A primary teacher in England commented: "My union took it up with the leader concerned and it has now stopped as requested."

ATL general secretary, Dr Mary Bousted, said: "School and college staff are under a great deal of pressure from working long hours, high workloads and inspections, and this can display itself in stained relationships between colleagues.

"It is unacceptable for any staff to be bullied by colleagues, and schools and colleges need robust policies in place to pick up any problems and deal with them promptly. It is not good enough to just tackle the symptoms; schools and colleges also need to tackle the cause of the bullying. In the case of many education staff, they are under too much pressure in their roles and this need to be addressed."

"Without robust policies on bullying and adequate measures to resolve the problem, staff will become demoralised and this can only have a negative impact on pupils."

Yvonne Flemming, National Officer for Leadership and Management at AMiE added: "As the leadership section of ATL, AMiE does not condone workplace bullying and harassment in any shape or form, particularly as our own members on occasion fall victim themselves to such practices. We support, guide and provide learning opportunities for our present and future leaders and managers to ensure good practice within our schools and colleges. In the present climate of constant change where the challenges of leadership are many, it is essential to have harmony and team working for effective teaching and learning to take place and the opportunities for young people to be safeguarded."

ENDS

For details of the survey, download a pdf of the press release.

Notes to editors

1. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) is an independent, registered trade union and professional association, representing approximately 160,000 teachers, headteachers, lecturers and support staff in maintained and independent nurseries, schools, sixth form, tertiary and further education colleges in the United Kingdom.

2. ATL exists to help members, as their careers develop, through first rate research, advice, information and legal advice.

3. ATL is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) and Education International (EI). ATL is not affiliated to any political party and seeks to work constructively with all the main political parties.