Bullying in the education sector

A 2012 online survey of 3,000 teachers by teaching union NASUWT paints a grim picture of the working climate in schools. More than two-thirds of teachers said they had experienced or witnessed bullying in the previous 12 months, with one in five quitting their jobs as a result. General secretary Chris Keates blames a culture of “macho management”, “punitive accountability” and the denigration of teachers.

Nearly a third of teachers reported being shouted at in front of colleagues, and 19% reported seeing colleagues shouted at in front of pupils. More than half reported persistent, unjustified criticism and 45% reported intimidatory use of disciplinary and performance procedures. Four out of five of the bullies occupy management or leadership positions. Keates says bullying is being “condoned from the top”, pointing to changes to performance management and classroom monitoring brought in by the government from September 2012 to make it easier to sack teachers, described by the union as a “bully’s charter”.

These survey results are mirrored in the results of the biennial 2012 TUC survey of safety reps carried out by LRD. The most common hazard identified by safety reps working in education was stress (cited by 84% of reps) followed by overwork (61%), bullying or harassment (49%), long hours (36%) and violence (24%).

The university and college union UCU has produced a comprehensive toolkit for its officers and reps, including health and safety and equality reps, called Stopping bullying and harassment at work. NASUWT has also published a guide on tackling prejudice-related bullying. This covers not only the characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010 but also bullying related to body image, size and obesity, which it says is “one of the most prevalent prejudice-related bullying”.