The Silent Struggle: Bullied by School Leadership

Sophie Johnson is a well-liked and experienced teacher. Her work in the classroom is interesting, challenging, and satisfying, but her interaction with school leaders has led to insomnia, exhaustion, and despair. She is medicated for depression and anxiety. In the education sector attention is quite rightly given to the abhorrent bullying of students. However, a critical issue that receives far less scrutiny is the bullying of teachers. In 2019 the NASUWT revealed four in five teachers had experienced bullying at work. Of those 70% said they were bullied by senior school leaders.

StopBullying.Gov describes bullying as “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance.”? A ‘power imbalance’ means adults can perpetrate and fall prey to this too, damaging the individuals involved, and the whole educational environment. When toxic workplaces are created all staff are likely affected, and ultimately students are too.

The professionalism and goodwill of teachers is sometimes abused by senior management, inevitably leading to a toxic work environment undermining staff morale and harming student outcomes.

Understanding Workplace Bullying

Teachers are in the unusual position of rarely seeing colleagues at work – instead, their time is spent with their students. This is, for most, the point of the job. This isolation means they may be unaware of the bigger picture where others are victimized in the same way as they.

Workplace, and especially school leadership bullying is characterized by a power imbalance where school executives exploit their authority to control and manipulate school staff. Depending on how much reach the bully has in the organization, this can affect many and in diverse ways. For example, if the bully manages the timetable they can assign the most challenging sets at the most challenging times. If they hold the purse-strings they can withhold funding from those they wish to diminish, reducing their ability to deliver and succeed.

Such behaviour impacts the professional and personal lives of teachers, their mental and their physical wellbeing. Many schools have staff dedicated to supporting the wellbeing of students and colleagues, but if these staff are also marginalized by the school leadership, then their effectiveness can be obviated.

Leaders are under pressure to deliver with tight financial constraints, external pressures, and an oft changing societal landscape too. It is understandable that they may make mistakes at times. Those with a less acute conscience may resort to bullying actions, hoping an experienced, more expensive staff member will resign.

Methods of Bullying Staff in Schools

As in any workplace, there are many ways to victimize school staff, however there are also areas that are peculiar to education.

1. Unreasonable Workloads: Teachers may be assigned excessive work, beyond their capacity, without adequate support or resources. Many still do their utmost to meet such workloads, for the students, but at a cost to their own wellbeing.

2. Public Humiliation: Leaders may criticize or belittle teachers in front of colleagues, students, or parents.

3. Making or Supporting False Accusations: This may occur in the guise of supporting a parental or student complaint, while concealing such complaint and complainant from the teachers involved leaving them no opportunity to offer evidence or defence.

4. Isolation: Excluding teachers from important meetings, decision-making processes, the opportunity to apply for a role, or social interactions within the school.

5. Unfair Evaluation: Providing unjustly negative performance reviews; giving feedback that is vague, overly critical, or impossible to constructively act upon, or setting unattainable goals.

6. Micromanagement: Excessive monitoring and controlling of staff work, undermining their professional autonomy.

7. Withholding Resources: refusal to supply equipment, training, and budget to do the job properly. Various research shows that between 68% and 94% of teachers spend on their own supplies, however even if they do, their work may still be diminished by refusal of support, access, time and more.

8. Ambush: Undermining and blindsiding staff, for example by calling a member of staff into a chat without warning that it is a formal disciplinary meeting, or that others will be present.

Statistical Data on Teacher Bullying

Statistics paint a troubling picture of the prevalence and impact of bullying in schools:

- Research by the University of Manchester revealed that teachers who experienced bullying were 4.5 times more likely to leave the profession within the next two years.

- A survey conducted by the National Education Association found that 25% of teachers reported bullying by school leaders.

- The American Federation of Teachers reported that 31% of educators have experienced harassment or bullying from supervisors, suggesting this is not just a UK problem.

Also, remember the data in the opening paragraph from the NASUWT survey of 2019. These figures highlight the urgent need for systemic changes to obviate bullying in education.

Behaviours Tolerated in Leadership but Not in Students

In schools there are bullying policies to address students bullying one another and, quite rightly, adults bullying children, but these are rarely in place for staff and school leaders.

While students face consequences for verbal bullying, school leaders may use harsh or derogatory language towards staff without repercussions. Like student cliques, leadership might exclude certain staff members from critical conversations or decisions, from applying for internal posts despite their expertise, familiarity with a situation or currency in the domain.

Leaders might use their authority to intimidate or threaten staff, coerce them into doing or not doing certain activities or actions, again showing behaviour that would be unacceptable among students. Just as a bully may take a student’s lunch money, so those in leadership may use financial disincentives to coerce staff.

Just as favouritism is discouraged among students, inconsistent application of rules and policies by leadership undermines fairness and trust, particularly when investigation methods and sanctions are inconsistently applied.

Characteristics of Broken School Leadership

Much research has been done into organizational behaviour, identifying a trio of problematic personality traits, referred to as the "dark triad," often prevalent in toxic leadership.

- Narcissism/Self-Perceived Superiority: Narcissistic leaders have an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration. They often believe they are superior to others, leading to dismissive and demeaning behavior towards staff (Furnham, Richards, & Paulhus, 2013).

- Psychopathy/Impetuosity Without Empathy: Psychopathic leaders show impulsive behaviour and a lack of empathy. They may engage in manipulative and unethical practices without considering the impact on others (Perry, 2015), or the organization.

- Machiavellianism/Office Politics: Machiavellian leaders are highly manipulative and engage in strategic behavior to keep their power. They often prioritize their own goals over the well-being of their staff and organization (Furnham et al., 2013). They may for example seek to appoint their own people, avoiding objective and transparent appointment processes to consolidate their own power base. Often this is with fearful ‘yes-men’, or with acolytes who in turn bully their own subordinates.

These traits lead to counter-productive behaviour and can often derail the organization (Furnham et al., 2013, p. 206). Examples from various sectors illustrate how destructive sociopathic leaders can be, not only to businesses but also to educational institutions (Stout, 2005; Clarke, 2005; Babiak and Hare, 2007; Furnham, 2015). Their impulsiveness, and absence of strategic thinking and consequences, can be catastrophic.

The remorseless self-interest of sociopathic leaders makes regular teachers, who mostly enter the profession with empathy and a pastoral instinct, easy prey. The trend of bringing corporate people in to manage schools has brought many benefits, but could that be a source of sociopathic individuals in school leadership too?

Jon Ronson, author of ‘The Psychopath Test’, lists traits common to those in business demonstrating psychopathy, showing an interesting correlation with traits considered desirable in successful managers. The test is a 20-point list developed by Canadian psychologist Robert D. Hare, to assess psychopathic traits in individuals. It is widely used in corporate environments, and prisons. Hare’s research suggests 1% of the general population are sociopaths, rising to 3.5% in leadership roles.

Far less research has been done into educational leadership, although Professor Chad Perry and Associate Professor Peter Miller explore such behaviours in universities: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316430372_Dysfunctional_Leadership_in_Universities_identifying_and_dealing_with_sociopaths, identifying similarities between the corporate world and education, where sociopathic behaviours also fail to produce positive results in business transformation.

They suggest characteristics of such leaders are evident in commercial and educational settings. Research on sociopathic behavior in commercial organizations is echoed in their research into educational leadership. This highlights troubling traits in some leaders:

·??????Egoism: A Grandiose sense of their own importance.

·?????? Skilfully manage their image with superiors while diminishing others’ reputation.

·?????? Glib and superficial, crave and seek admiration from others.

·?????? Control of Information: Leaders who manipulate the flow of information to superiors.

·?????? Narcissistic Anger: Leaders who show intense rage when challenged.

·?????? Impulsivity: acting recklessly without strategic consideration for consequences.

·?????? High Staff Turnover: Qualified and productive staff leaving the organization.

·?????? Formation of a ‘Court’: Leaders who create a group of loyal followers around them.

·?????? Special Favours: Leaders who grant privileges to their inner circle.

·?????? Lack of Empathy or Remorse: Leaders who ignore the well-being of others.

·?????? Divide and Conquer: Leaders who tactically manipulate to create divisions.

·?????? Use of Confidentiality Agreements to conceal misconduct.

These behaviours destabilize the work environment, undermining the effectiveness and morale of the organization. Their paper shows ways in which those appointing leaders can identify unsuitable candidates and avoid hiring mistakes, since the research shows such individuals rarely have a positive result in an organization. They also direct accountability elsewhere when challenged over their record.

Addressing the Issue

Can you envisage anyone in your organization that embodies these traits? Do you recognize the behaviours described? Recognizing bullying is a key first step in fixing it. Just as with students, calling out such behaviour is essential.

Teachers are usually well-versed in recognizing bullying, but they will often spot it in students’ lives but not their own. The measures that staff encourage in students to recognize bullying also apply to adults in the workplace. By paying attention to patterns of behaviour that are consistently harmful or demeaning they can see when they, or a colleague, are being marginalized.

Creating a positive and supportive work environment for all school staff requires a concerted effort from all stakeholders in the education sector. School leaders must be held accountable for their actions and trained in effective, empathetic management techniques. Use the Unions or a good Employment lawyer for this: don’t be shy.

Building a Supportive Environment

1. Policy Implementation: Schools must implement and enforce anti-bullying policies that protect all staff. If a person in a position of authority abuses the imbalance of power, their behaviour must be addressed to avoid serial repetition.

2. Training Programs: Leadership training focused on empathy, communication, and conflict resolution. Creating a culture of mutual respect and collaboration ensures all staff feel valued and supported.

3. Support Systems: Setting up confidential reporting mechanisms and providing access to counselling services. This must never be instead of dealing with the offender though or the offensive behaviours will simply recur.

4. Regular Reviews: Conducting regular reviews of leadership practices and their impact on staff well-being. Such review should be transparent and provide clear accountability.

Conclusion

Teachers are the backbone of our educational system, and their well-being directly influences students’ learning experience. Although, without our cleaners, caterers, maintenance crews and more, our schools would close, and these staff need protection too. Addressing the issue of staff bullying by school leadership is about protecting individuals. We can ensure a respectful, productive, and supportive educational environment for all. It is time to recognize the silent struggle faced by many teachers and non-teaching staff and take decisive action to support them. By fostering a respectful and supportive culture, we can ensure that our educators are valued and are able to perform at their best, ultimately benefiting the entire school community.

Getting Help

Unions, eg NASUWT and NEU in the UK, are just two where you can get support. If they are overwhelmed or too slow though, seek advice from an employment lawyer. You can have an initial free consultation with some practices, and online, then decide what steps to take in an informed way.

Visit Education Support: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/for-individuals/guides/bullying-and-harassment/ . There is lots of supportive information here with tangible steps and a helpline on 08000 562 561

Getting help: https://www.nationalbullyinghelpline.co.uk/about.html

Recognizing bullying: https://notwaitingforsuperman.org/workplace-bullying-in-schools/

TY - CHAP, AU - Miller, Peter, AU - Perry, Chad, PY - 2018/02/01, SN - 978-0-9943178-6-5, T1 - Dysfunctional Leadership in Universities: identifying and dealing with sociopaths.