INTO plans action on teachers bullying teachers

Procedures to tackle adult bullying in primary schools are close to agreement between the INTO and the schools' management bodies. Practical guidelines for staff and management are expected to be in place in schools within six months, according to Senator Joe O'Toole, general secretary of the INTO. In a new survey on bullying of and by teachers, 41 per cent of respondents said they had been publicly humiliated in their work situation. And 16 per cent of primary teachers say they would leave their school because of poor staff-room relations.

The survey was carried out in the Republic and Northern Ireland by the INTO's equality committee. The findings were presented to a packed INTO conference of more than 300 primary teachers in Limerick this weekend.

Principals were deemed to be responsible in 34 per cent of the instances of "occasional" public humiliation. However, it is the type of instances of frequent public humiliation which merit concern, according to the survey's terms of reference.

Out of a total of 402 respondents, seven principals and five assistant teachers were reported to have been responsible for "often" publicly humiliating colleagues.

The INTO maintains that these figures indicate the high quality of relationships which exist generally in Irish schools, but it believes that the results do point to the necessity for in-service and pre-service training for all teachers in human relations and conflict resolution.

Some 48 per cent of respondents said they had been undermined in their work situation, while 56 per cent said they had suffered verbal abuse in the work place.

Four per cent said they had been sexually harassed in work. The incidence is low, says the INTO. Only 16 incidents were reported, with 14 being encountered by female teachers - of these, four women suffered sexual harassment on a frequent basis.

Some 42 per cent had been intimidated in their work situation. "It is imperative," says the INTO, "that counselling be made available to those who suffer such behaviour and those who perpetrate it."

In a section on the effects of bullying, 41 per cent said this type of behaviour had resulted in stress; 24 per cent said it had resulted in low self-esteem; 15 per cent said it had caused low motivation and 11 per cent said it had caused depression.

Practically one-third of the teachers who encountered bullying said they were severely affected by the experience. The report concludes that "one can simply speculate on the extent to which going to work must have constituted a severe trauma for those teachers, and how difficult it must have been for them to provide their pupils with a pleasant learning environment".

According to the survey, most teachers who were bullied discussed the problem with a colleague. Many principals were also seen as being very supportive, and there were instances where teachers were sufficiently assertive to discuss the situation with the perpetrator.

On the plus side, the survey found that, in a sample of 402 teachers whose experience ranged from less than five years to more than 40 years, 59 per cent never encountered public humiliation. It must be borne in mind that "the majority of teachers have never been bullied", it says.