Quarter of teachers bullied at work
More than a quarter of teachers have been bullied whilst at school and half are bullied by senior management, according to a new poll.
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) found that 28 per cent of teaching staff were bullied by pupils or parents for reasons such as age, and general dislike.
In the worst cases, teachers admitted they have been "driven from their jobs" due to bullying from head-teachers or departmental heads. Educational unions are backing anti-bullying polices in schools to order to protect their staff.
It is commonly thought that pupils are the the worst casualties of bullying, often needing counselling courses to help them get through it, but the evidence shown in the poll is a revelation in the teaching world.
ATL general secretary, Mary Bousted told BBC News: "It is unacceptable for any staff to be bullied by colleagues, and schools and colleges 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 and colleges 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 needs to be addressed," she said.
According to The Daily Mail, more than seven in ten teachers said they suffered from stress and two thirds admitted they had anxiety. Most of the abuse from pupils are parents took the form of negative comments and verbal insults.
Less than two per cent said that they had experienced physical violence toward them.
The survey was compiled from more than 900 primary, secondary and further education schools. Its findings were published at the teaching union conference in Liverpool.
