Union conferences Teachers reveal workplace bullying fears


More than half of staff who have been bullied are not happy with the way their schools have dealt with the incidents. It follows a survey of more


than 900 teachers and school staff by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), which also revealed that half of those who had been bullied were suffering at the hands of a member of the leadership team. The survey reported that nearly


half of staff who have been bullied said they had not reported it and of those that had, 52 per cent said they were not happy with the way the school dealt with it. One primary school teacher told


the study that they had not reported it because the person who was doing the bullying was the headteacher. Results of the survey showed that


for 26 per cent of those who had been bullied, the head of department


was to blame, whereas 22 per cent said it was a fellow teacher. More than 50 per cent said the


bullying had taken place several times and 27 per cent said it happened regularly. More than 70 per cent of staff


bullied became stressed because of the problem and nearly 50 per cent are considering leaving the


Teachers angry over ‘excessive use’ of lesson observations


The excessive use of lesson observations by school leaders once again sparked an angry debate by teachers at the NASUWT annual conference. A debate at the conference,


which took place in Glasgow during Easter, attacked the use of “drop-ins” and “learning walks” in schools, which see members of the leadership team coming in to classrooms to observe lessons without notice. Teachers are already subject to


three hours of observations a year as part of agreed performance management requirements, but the union says many of these drop-in observations take place in addition to this. The union has now agreed


to campaign for a limit on the total number of observations that a school can carry out on individual teachers. In moving a motion on


the issue, Claire Colling, a teacher from Birmingham, told delegates: “These observations are outside your performance management regulations and come in a number of insidious guises – learning walks, learning detectives, drop-ins which can last anything up to an hour,


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official corridor debriefing sessions. Excessive observations appear to be used increasingly as an excuse to instigate capability procedures.” Teacher Jane Setchfield from


Cardiff told the conference of one member who had been observed eight times since January. She said: “It’s absolute


overkill – providing jobs for clipboard junkies that patrol the corridors.” Jane Allison, a teacher from


Worcester and Vale, said that one of her members had been observed 14 times during the autumn term, while Birmingham teacher Brendan O’Driscoll told delegates: “There have been times when being observed I have not done what my professional judgement has told me to do, I have done what I think the person watching me wants me to do.” The motion, which was passed


by members unanimously, calls for the union to campaign for a protocol that includes a limit on the total number of observations for an individual teacher, excluding NQTs, and those on capability procedures.


profession. The most common reason for being bullied was believed to be because the other person did not like them (41 per cent). Despite this, 31 per cent said they did not know the reason why they were being bullied. General secretary of the ATL, Dr


Mary Bousted, said more adequate measures need to be brought in to


tackle the problem. She also said bullying could be the result of the long hours teachers work, high workloads and inspections, which can lead to strained relationships because of the pressure they bring. She added: “It is unacceptable


for any staff to be bullied by colleagues, and schools 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 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.”


Behaviour is getting worse, survey shows


Pupil behaviour has worsened in the past five years, with boys still proving the most challenging, teachers have said. A survey released by the


Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), shows that 56 per cent of teachers believe behaviour has deteriorated since 2006, in both boys and girls. Teachers said that the most


problematic behaviour was still low-level disruption, including talking, not paying attention, and “horsing around”. For boys, the most challenging


behaviour was cited as being physical aggression, including pushing, spitting and hitting. For girls, challenging behaviour


included bullying in the form of isolating pupils from their friendship groups, spreading rumours, and making snide comments. The survey of 859 teachers and


school leaders shows that half of the respondents thought boys’ behaviour had worsened in the past five years, while 48 per cent said girls’ behaviour had become more of a problem. One primary teacher told the


survey: “The boys are far more willing to be aggressive to adults, verbally and even physically. There don’t seem to be any parental boundaries set of what is an appropriate way to speak and deal with another adult.”


A primary teacher from


Bedfordshire added: “Boys are generally more physical and their behaviour is more noticeable. Girls are often sneakier about misbehaving, they often say nasty things which end up disrupting the lesson just as much as the boys, as other children get upset and can’t focus on their work. They are usually the ones who refuse to comply with instructions.” The survey cites fami ly


breakdowns (62 per cent), a lack of positive role-models at home (58 per cent), and poor emotional health (51 per cent) as some of the reasons for challenging behaviour. For boys, the teachers said that


“bravado” and seeking attention from friends were common reasons for bad behaviour, while for girls friendship breakups were often thought to spark problems. ATL general secretary Dr Mary


Bousted said that schools needed to have “firm and consistent” discipline policies and should work with parents to keep schools safe. She added: “Staff get ground


down daily by the chatting and messing around which disrupts lessons for other pupils and takes the pleasure out of teaching. “Even more worrying is the


physical aggression, most often among boys, but also among some girl, which puts other pupils and staff at risk.”


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