Oz school teachers are ‘worst bullies’, finds survey
May 13th, 2009 - 4:25 pm ICT by ANIMelbourne, May 17 (ANI): A new survey has shown that teachers entrusted with preventing bullying in Australian schools are instead bullying each other at alarming levels.
In the national online survey of more than 800 teachers, 99.6 per cent said that they had experienced bullying in the workplace, with the biggest bullies likely to be the principal or other school executives.
As per the research, power imbalance was a factor in staff bullying, and those most affected were government schools.
Deidre Duncan, of the Australian Catholic University, said that principals in government schools received the worst rating for bullying.
“In government schools, the principal receives a significantly higher nomination as a frequent or persistent bully than found in independent or Catholic schools,” the Courier Mail quoted Duncan as saying.
“A total of 42 per cent of respondents in government schools said the bully was the principal,” she said.
Duncan also said that such behaviour could be expected in “fairly bureaucratic organisations”.
The behaviour most commonly identified by teachers as bullying was the withholding of information that affected performance, followed by the questioning of decisions, procedures and judgment.
Duncan and co-researcher Dan Riley recommended that a bullying ombudsman be appointed for teachers, awareness of staff bullying be raised, and a staff bullying register be established at each school.
Education Minister Geoff Wilson said that the research was a concern and he would ask his department to look into it. (ANI)
- More than 99 percent teachers bullied in Australia - May 13, 2009
- School bullies more likely to be into drugs - Mar 06, 2012
- Bullying girls' 'behave worse in classroom than boys' - Apr 18, 2011
- Bihar withholds pay of 300 teachers for fake admissions - Jan 14, 2012
- Onus on principals to bring back drop-outs - Mar 14, 2011
- Anti-bullying program cuts nasty gossip among school children - Jan 05, 2011
- 50 Oz students suspended for 'rating female teachers online' - Apr 13, 2011
- Oz teachers celebrate Friday night 'happy hour' in staff rooms boozing - Nov 21, 2010
- More than two-thirds of girls under the age of 10 bullied: Oz study - Feb 10, 2011
- Pushy parents and SATs leaving 11-yr-olds 'stressed and nervous' - Sep 22, 2010
- Children with food allergies are often victims of bullying: Study - Sep 28, 2010
- Half of Oz teens share personal data with strangers online - Nov 23, 2010
- Australian school apologises to Sikh boy - Jul 14, 2011
- Gizmos replacing pens as kids' essential classroom kit: Survey - Apr 24, 2011
- 1 in 10 teenagers a victim of cyberbullies - Apr 10, 2010
Tags: alarming levels, australian catholic university, bullies, bully, bullying in australian schools, bullying in the workplace, catholic schools, courier mail, geoff wilson, government schools, new survey, nomination, ombudsman, online survey, power imbalance, principals, respondents, school education minister, school executives, school teachers