Bullying in teaching - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

School

A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

teachers

Teachers

Teachers may refer to:* Teachers, people who provide schooling for pupils and students* Teachers , one of the five Ascension Gift Ministries* Teachers , a British sitcom* Teachers Teachers may refer to:* Teachers, people who provide schooling for pupils and students* Teachers (ministry), one of the...

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:

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

Economic and Social Research Institute

The Economic and Social Research Institute is a think tank in Dublin, Ireland. Its research focuses on Ireland's economic and social development in order to inform policy-making and societal understanding....

found bullying to be more prevalent in schools (13.8pc) than other workplaces (7.9pc).

Complex dynamics

Parsons identifies teacher bullying as often being part of a wider bullying culture within a school, with a complex web of dynamics

Group dynamics

Group dynamics refers to a system of behaviors and psychological processes that occur within a social group , or between social groups...

such as:

teachers may be bullied by: other teachers, students, office staff, principals, school governors
School governors
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, school governors are members of a school's Governing Body. In state schools they have responsibility for raising school standards through their three key roles of setting strategic direction, ensuring accountability and acting as a critical friend...

and/or parents
teachers may bully: other teachers, students 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.

Manifestations

Bullying of teachers can take many forms in order to harass and intimidate including:

face-to-face confrontation
memos
Memorandum
A memorandum is from the Latin verbal phrase memorandum est, the gerundive form of the verb memoro, "to mention, call to mind, recount, relate", which means "It must be remembered ..."...
cyber-bullying
Cyber-bullying
Cyber-bullying is the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner. As it has become more common in society, particularly among young people, legislation and awareness campaigns have arisen to combat it.-Definition:The term...

(including the use of text messaging
Text messaging
Text messaging, or texting, refers to the exchange of brief written text messages between fixed-line phone or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network...

or social networking sites).

Bullies often exploit positions of seniority over the colleagues they are intimidating (see rankism

Rankism

Rankism is "abusive, discriminatory, or exploitative behavior towards people because of their rank in a particular hierarchy".Rank-based abuse underlies many other phenomena such as bullying, racism, sexism, and homophobia. The term "rankism" was coined by physicist, educator, and citizen diplomat...

) by:

criticising their work
making unreasonable demands on workload (see setting up to fail
Setting up to fail
Setting up to fail is a psychological manipulation performed on a target in which the target is given a task which is designed to fail as it has an unrealistic objective - "the setting of impossible objectives... set up to fail". The target will become stressed trying to achieve the impossible,...

)
sarcasm
Sarcasm
Sarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt.” Though irony and understatement is usually the immediate context, most authorities distinguish sarcasm from irony; however, others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony or employs...

and jokes aimed at the victim
undermining
Social undermining
Social undermining is the opposite of social support. For example, in the context of the workplace, it refers to intentional offenses aimed at destroying another's favorable reputation, their ability to accomplish their work, or their ability to build and maintain positive relationships.-See also:...

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

Promotion (rank)

A promotion is the advancement of an employee's rank or position in an organizational hierarchy system. Promotion may be an employee's reward for good performance i.e. positive appraisal...

or training courses (see silent treatment).

Impacts

The possible impacts of bullying on teachers include:

victimisation
Victimisation
Victimisation is the process of being victimised or becoming a victim. Research that studies the process, rates, incidence, and prevalence of victimization falls under the body of victimology.-Peer victimisation:...

and victim blaming
Victim blaming
Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment are held entirely or partially responsible for the transgressions committed against them. Blaming the victim has traditionally emerged especially in racist and sexist forms...
false accusations
False accusations
False accusations can be in any of the following contexts:* informally in everyday life* quasi-judicially* judicially.-Types:...

and fabricated formal disciplinary action
stress
Workplace stress
Workplace stress is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker....

symptoms such as anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...

, headaches, nausea
Nausea
Nausea , is a sensation of unease and discomfort in the upper stomach with an involuntary urge to vomit. It often, but not always, precedes vomiting...

, palpitations, and hypertension
Hypertension
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...
symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...

(PTSD) such as a compromised immune system
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...

, sleep problems, excessive guilt
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...

, irritability
Irritability
Irritability is an excessive response to stimuli. The term is used for both the physiological reaction to stimuli and for the pathological, abnormal or excessive sensitivity to stimuli; It is usually used to refer to anger or frustration....

, hypervigilance
Hypervigilance
Hypervigilance is an enhanced state of sensory sensitivity accompanied by an exaggerated intensity of behaviors whose purpose is to detect threats. Hypervigilance is also accompanied by a state of increased anxiety which can cause exhaustion. Other symptoms include: abnormally increased arousal, a...

(which feels like paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...

, but isn't), constant anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...

, reactive depression and suicidal thoughts
loss of self-esteem
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is a term in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame: some would distinguish how 'the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, the...
loss of job

In pop culture

Teachers being protrayed 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
- Matilda, based on the novel of the same name
  Matilda (novel)
  Matilda is a children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was published in 1988 by Jonathan Cape in London, with illustrations by Quentin Blake. The story is about Matilda Wormwood, an extraordinary child with ordinary and rather unpleasant parents, who are contemptuous of their daughter's...
  
  , a student with psychokinesis helps her follow students and a teacher to stop a cruel principal's regin of terror in the school.
- The Breakfast Club
  The Breakfast Club
  The Breakfast Club is a 1985 American teen drama film written and directed by John Hughes. The storyline follows five teenagers as they spend a Saturday in detention together and come to realize that they are all deeper than their respective stereotypes.-Plot:The plot follows five students at...
  
  , Principal Vernon is often seen as a bully to the students serving detention.
- Mr. Woodcock
  Mr. Woodcock
  Mr. Woodcock is a 2007 comedy film directed by Craig Gillespie, and starring Seann William Scott, Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon, Amy Poehler, and Ethan Suplee. The film was released on September 14, 2007.-Plot:...
  
  , 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.
TV
- iCarly
  ICarly
  iCarly is an American sitcom that focuses on a girl named Carly Shay who creates her own web show called iCarly with her best friends Sam and Freddie. The series was created by Dan Schneider, who also serves as executive producer. It stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly, Jennette McCurdy as Sam, Nathan...
  
  , there has 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
  Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
  Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, commonly called Ned's Declassified for short, is an American live-action situation comedy on Nickelodeon that debuted in the channel's Sunday night TEENick scheduling block on September 12, 2004. The series' actual pilot episode aired on September 7, 2003...
  
  , 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
  Glee (TV series)
  Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
  
  , Coach Bieste is bullied by staff, including Sue Sylvester
  Sue Sylvester
  Susan "Sue" Sylvester is a fictional character of the Fox musical comedy-drama series, Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Jane Lynch, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Sue was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian...
  
  and students.
Music
- "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" by Pink Floyd
  Pink Floyd
  Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
  
  - the song tells the story about a student dreams about getting revenge against the abusive teachers.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.