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Men school teachers get bullied too: examples from an Australian study
International Journal of Qualitative Studies In Education
The links between different forms of teacher victimization and teachers’ life satisfaction are still under-researched. To highlight teacher victimization by various parties within the school environment and its associations with teachers’ life satisfaction, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Multidimensional Teacher Victimization Scale, and some additional measures were applied. The findings based on a Lithuanian sample (n = 1146) revealed that a significant portion of teachers have experienced victimization in various forms: 38.5% of teachers have been bullied by school staff, 33.9% have faced verbal victimization from students’ parents, and victimization by students affected 65.8% of teachers, with verbal and social victimization being the most common. An SEM analysis (χ² = 355.787; Df = 33; CFI = 0.928; TLI = 0.902; NFI = 0.922; RMSEA = 0.092 [0.084–0.101]; SRMR = 0.0432) revealed that bullying by staff is not only detrimental in its own right but also relates positively to other forms of victimization, including verbal victimization by parents and multidimensional victimization by students, as teacher victimization by students and their parents mediated the relationship between teacher victimization by school staff and teacher life satisfaction. The findings suggest a complex problem within the school environment where different forms of victimization are interconnected and call for urgent attention and action from educational policymakers and school administrators to address and mitigate teacher victimization.
A growing body of literature suggests that over the past 30 years, policies aimed at tackling harassment in academia have had little discernable effect. How can this impasse be overcome to make the higher education sector a safe space for everyone? We combine the areas of harassment and inequality, intersectionality, policy-practice gaps, gender sensitive medicine, as well as corruption and whistleblower processes to identify lacunae and offer recommendations for how to apply our recommendations in practice. We have been searching the most influential, relevant, and recent literature on harassment and inequality in our respective fields of expertise. By studying conceptual overlaps between the different fields, we were able to create insights that go beyond the insights of the most recent reviews. Our synthesis results in three concrete recommendations. First, harassment and inequality are mutually reinforcing. Failure to adequately tackle harassment contributes to perpetuating and reproducing inequality. Further, the intersectional nature of inequality has to be acknowledged and acted upon. Second, enforcing anti-harassment policies should be a top priority for universities, funders, and policymakers. Third, sexual harassment should be treated as institutional-level integrity failure. The higher education sector should now focus on enforcing existing anti-harassment policies by holding universities accountable for their effective implementation - or risk being complicit in maintaining and reproducing inequality.
Funding
We have received no funding for this research.
Parents and educators commonly assume that male teachers serve as more effective disciplinarians for boys than female teachers. Do schools tend to assign male teachers to teach boys with perceived behavioral issues? Our study uses administrative data in Indiana to investigate male teacher assignment in elementary school. We find that boys with at least one suspension record in the previous year are 12% more likely to be assigned to a male teacher than boys without suspensions, whereas girls’ suspension histories do not predict assignments to male teachers. In addition, teachers who have 10% or more of students with suspension histories are 19.5% more likely to migrate to another school and 16.2% more likely to leave the state’s teacher workforce. Our study suggests that male teachers have an elevated risk of being assigned to teach male students with suspension histories, which may contribute to teacher turnover.
Teaching has been reported to be one of the most stressful occupations, with heavy psychological demands, including the need to develop positive relationships with students and their parents; relationships that, in turn, play a significant role in teachers’ well-being. It follows that the impact of any violence perpetrated by a student or parent against a teacher is particularly significant and represents a major occupational health concern. The present study examines for the first time the influence of the Job Demands-Control-Support Model on violence directed against teachers. Six hundred and eighty-six teachers working in elementary and high schools in north-east Italy completed an online, self-report questionnaire. Our findings reveal the role played by working conditions in determining teachers’ experience of violence: greater job demands are associated with most offense types, whereas the availability of diffused social support at school is associated with lower rates of harassment. Workload should be equally distributed and kept under control, and violence should gain its place in the shared daily monitoring of practices and experiences at school in order to provide a socially supportive work environment for all teachers.
In this chapter, we consider how teacher professionalism is challenged by teacher-targeted bullying and harassment (TTBH) in Australian schools. Informed by findings from our exploratory mixed method study of TTBH in Australia, the incidence of student bullying towards teachers suggests that conventional views of professionalism need rethinking. International research reveals that TTBH occurs irrespective of an individual’s innate gifts, talents, experience, commitment or traits. TTBH has been attributed to a range of factors external to personal professional expertise and its incidence undermines or compromises the sustained practice of victimised teachers. Yet, in our neoliberal climate of governmentality, where performativity pressures inhibit disclosure of struggle, TTBH has been invisibilised. In a culture dominated by managerialism, standards and compliance, the right of teachers to a safe workplace needs urgent redress. Until government policy explicitly addresses the provenance and extent of this issue, teacher vulnerability to student and parent-enacted TTBH threatens teacher well-being.
Teacher-directed violence (TDV), or violence in schools directed toward teachers, is a growing concern in contemporary schools (Bounds & Jenkins, Contemporary School Psychology, 20, 1–9, 2016; Espelage et al. 2011). Existing research suggests that some teachers are more at risk of TDV (e.g., teachers whom are White, female, homosexual, religious, older, or those teaching high school) but it is unclear if teachers from all school settings (i.e., rural, urban, or suburban) experience similar levels of TDV and stress associated with TDV. Additionally, there has been no research in the USA examining how teachers cope with teacher-directed violence. Little is known about to whom teachers reach out for social support and if that social support is effective in moderating teacher stress. Past research demonstrates that teaching is a high-stress occupation (Fimian, Exceptional Children, 52, 436–442, Fimian 1988), and some of this stress could be related to experiences of violence. The current study examined differences in TDV experiences among 117 rural, urban, and suburban teachers in the Midwest. Analyses revealed that teachers in urban schools experienced the highest levels of TDV, followed by teachers in rural schools, then suburban teachers. A similar result was found when teachers were asked about stress they experienced that was specific to violence at work. Interestingly, when assessing work stress, suburban teachers had the highest levels of work stress, followed by urban, then rural teachers.
The author reports findings from a random survey of National Association of Social Workers members from two states examining the prevalence, nature, and risk factors of client violence toward social workers. A majority of persons surveyed experienced client violence, with gender and setting as significant variables in determining risk. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.
The aim of the study was to describe changes in the prevalence of teacher multi-targeted workplace bullying in Estonia by means of a repeated cross-sectional design comparing two studies conducted 10 years apart. A comparison was conducted between participants from teachers’ self reports (n=573) in 2003 and those of (n=564) in 2013. The findings show a substantial increase during ten years in the prevalence of teacher targeted bullying in the teacher-pupil, teacher-teacher, teacher-school administrative staff, teacher-school maintenance staff, and teacher-parent relationships across different categories of victimization: Threat to professional status, threat to personal standing, isolation, and physical aggression.
Although men are targets of workplace bullying, there is limited research focused on their experiences. To address this gap, we used a qualitative grounded theory approach and interviewed a community sample of 20 Atlantic Canadian men to explore and explain their experiences of, and responses to, bullying. The main problem identified by men was a lack of workplace support to address and resolve the bullying, a challenge named abandonment. Men addressed this problem by surviving, a process that involved efforts to manage persistent bullying and the associated consequences. Men experienced physical, emotional, and social health consequences and, contrary to prevailing assumptions related to men’s help-seeking behaviors, men want support and many sought help to address the problem and its consequences. Responses to abandonment and the associated consequences varied according to a number of factors including gender and highlight the need for research aimed at understanding the gendered nature of bullying.
Research has found that victimized teachers are more likely to suffer from psychological distress, experience impaired personal relationships, and report higher levels of fear, consequently yielding detrimental impacts on their job performance and relationships with students. However, limited empirical research has been conducted to understand the prevalence and predictors of violence against teachers. Using a nationally representative sample of 996 Korean teachers, the present study measured various types of victimization and examined predictors of teachers’ victimization, focusing on teachers’ socio-demographic characteristics, teachers’ student-oriented approach/classroom atmosphere, and school characteristics. The results suggest that teacher victimization is widespread in South Korea and show significant effects of individual socio-demographic factors (gender and being a homeroom teacher), classroom atmosphere, and school type on teachers’ victimization. Policy implications are discussed in the conclusion.
With qualitative research methods an integral part of the psychology curriculum, questions arise of what approaches to teach, and how to teach them. We think thematic analysis (TA) offers a useful – and a relatively easy to teach and learn – basic introduction to qualitative analysis (see Braun & Clarke, 2006; 2012, 2013; Clarke & Braun, 2013); yet even teaching a fairly accessible approach like TA presents challenges in the classroom. Drawing on our experiences, and 38 responses from psychology students to a short qualitative survey on students’ experiences of qualitative and TA teaching, we explore some of the challenges of teaching TA to students new to qualitative research, and suggest strategies for overcoming these. Many of these are not specific to TA; they apply to teaching qualitative research more broadly, but we focus our discussion on TA.
A scholarly literature on the intersectional realities of race, class, gender, and sexual privilege exists, but professors often struggle with how to teach it, especially given our own (often) privileged positions. Here, the author describes how he uses self-reflexive story-telling as a point of entre to encourage students to think about their own lives within a matrix of privilege and subordination. He shows how stories can illuminate the central role played by ideologies of individual meritocracy in privileged peoples' narratives. The author argues that personal stories are limited unless they also are contextualized within structural analyses that illuminate collective agency. He ends by describing an undergraduate study of USC janitors that reveals how the institution constrains these low-wage workers, while putting into stark relief the relative privilege of students and faculty. He concludes that a pedagogy of privilege should always be grounded in the standpoints of subordinated groups of people.
This article, the first empirical study of its kind, presents findings from a larger qualitative study of principal mistreatment of teachers. A grounded theory method was used to study a sample of 50 US teachers who were subjected to long-term mistreatment from school principals. The authors discuss descriptive, conceptual, and theoretical findings about principals’ actions that teachers define as mistreatment. In addition, the inductively derived model briefly looks at the harmful effects of principal mistreatment and abuse on teachers, psychologically/emotionally and physically/physiologically. Implications of study findings are discussed for administrator and teacher preparation, for school district offices, and for further research.
The aim of this study was to analyze the variables involved in the bullying experiences of primary school teachers who attended in-service courses at the Aksaray and Esenköy training centers in Turkey. There were 315 participants in the study. A Turkish adaptation of the Negative Acts Questionnaire Scale (NAQ) developed by Einarsen and Raknes (1997) was used. Cronbach's alpha = .97, factor loads were determined to be between .42 and .82. Frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, chi-square and variance analysis were also measured. The results were tested at p < .05 level. The research showed that 50% of the Turkish primary school teachers had experienced bullying. There was a significant relationship between the incidence of bullying and the branch of teaching. However, there was no relationship between bullying experiences and the variables of sex, age and marital status.
The present study examines students' perception of the teacher's role as epistemic authorities, that is, a source of determinative influence on the formation of individuals' knowledge, from three perspectives. First, it examines 7th and 10th graders' perception of their teachers as epistemic authorities. The results showed that a teacher's subject matter, as well as students' age and gender, influence perception of him/her as an epistemic authority. In addition, interest in the subject matter was found to be an important predictor of students' perception. The second part focuses on teachers' self-perceptions as epistemic authorities. The results indicated that teachers' personal efficacy is the most powerful predictor of their self-perception. Finally, the study compares students' perceptions of teachers as epistemic authorities, teachers' self-perceptions in these terms and teachers' perceptions of how their students perceive them. Two main findings showed the following: (a) teachers perceive themselves as being more of an epistemic authority than their students consider them; (b) teachers believe that students perceive them as being more of an epistemic authority than the students actually think.
Bullying in school has become an international concern in recent years, and the issue became urgent after school closure during COVID Pandemic. International studies have identified teacher-targeted bullying by students as a real and harmful issue for teacher wellbeing. Our paper sets out discursive issues surrounding bullying against teachers as targets of intentional bullying. It reports on the findings of a small-scale, extant, qualitative research study on commenters’ understanding of the antecedents of teacher-targeted bullying. The aim was to gain insights into the teachers´ targeted bullying from the perspective of teacher victims. We conducted a qualitative descriptive research design stemming from semi-structured interviews with victims of teacher-targeted bullying. A thematic content analysis of the data was generated from interviews with seventeen victimized teachers as a snowball sampling. The sample consisted of male (n = 7) and female (n = 10) participants from urban school locations in the capital of Czech Republic. The focus of our study was to determine how the teachers who had been experiencing bullying by their students described and perceived the nature and consequences attributed to such bullying. The findings indicate that the victims of teacher-targeted bullying were exposed repeatedly over long time verbal and nonverbal bullying, ignoring the teaching activities and other threats directed against teachers. Our results suggest bullying had a negative influence on the victims’ private lives (family, colleagues), physical and mental health and self-esteem.
Past research normally focused on students bullying their peers. Systematic research has not been conducted targeting students’ various bullying behaviors against teachers. The current study focused on understanding the issue which teachers are bullied by students.
Both quantitative survey and qualitative focus group/interviews were conducted. American and Chinese teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools, were recruited for a self-created survey study. A pilot study was conducted regarding the survey, to ensure the clarity and understandability of the survey, by collecting reviewers’ feedback on the survey. Revisions were made on the survey after the pilot study. The survey included teachers’ experiences with students bullying teachers, teachers’ perception on the reasons for students bullying teachers, bullying policy, school safety.
Further, focus group meeting was conducted with Chinese teachers, and individual interviews were conducted for American teachers to study further about their experiences with students bullying teachers, and to understand the cultural reasoning for students bullying teachers.
Survey results showed that American teachers experienced mainly relational, verbal, physical, discriminatory bullying; Chinese teachers mainly experienced relational, verbal bullying. The majority of American teachers reported the bullying behavior to school administrators. But that was not the case for Chinese teachers. Both American and Chinese teachers showed concern regarding students imitating their parents’ negative behaviors against teachers.
Qualitative results showed that both American and Chinese teachers reported they experienced or witnessed bullying behaviors from students, parents, administrators, or teachers. Both American and Chinese participants reported teachers are not highly respected in current teaching environment.
This article sets out discursive issues surrounding bullying and harassment against teachers. This problematic phenomenon of teachers being bullied by students does not have the discursive policy framework to realistically and even-handedly enable discussion in the public arena or political and policy environments. This discussion chronicles our journey towards greater conceptual clarity and appropriate nomenclature about bullying and harassing behaviours directed against teachers. International studies have identified teacher-targeted bullying by students as a real and detrimental issue for teacher wellbeing. We present a sampling of international research that grapples with the challenge of defining the phenomenon of teachers as targets of intentional bullying and harassment by students. We consider Australian studies conducted in the past twenty years that address teachers’ perceptions of being bullied. Finally, we propose that this phenomenon is likely to continue until there is sufficient support to start a cultural shift towards more respectful treatment of teachers.
The goal of this study is to examine individual-level and school-level predictors of teacher victimization (TV) by students in China based upon the multilevel social-ecological framework. A sample of 1,711 teachers (7th to 12th grade) from 58 schools from eight provinces in mainland China completed measures of teacher victimization (i.e., physical TV, verbal TV, social TV, cyber TV, sexual harassment, and personal property offenses) by students, school-wide bullying and disciplinary practices, and demographics. In the present sample, 25.1% of teachers reported that they experienced at least one of the six forms of victimization from students in the past school year. Prevalence of teacher victimization ranged from 4.0% (physical victimization) to 16.8% (social victimization). Male teachers were more likely to experience all forms of TV and homeroom teachers were more likely than non-homeroom teachers to experience social TV. Schools with fewer students, but higher number of teachers, also had higher levels of TV. Student bullying and punitive disciplinary practices at the teacher level were associated with higher levels of most forms of TV. Implications of these findings are discussed.
This article explores teachers’ perceptions of why their administrators bullied them. Data sources included surveys collected from 250 teachers and interviews with 26 teachers. Survey data indicated the main reasons teachers felt bullied were: their age, their association with a teacher union, and their behaviors. Qualitative results showed teachers felt their administrators bullied them out of jealousy, power, because a previous administrator hired them, teacher traits, and differences in teaching styles.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how varying definitions of bullying and formats of the definitions affect research study outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic search of empirical studies within the following databases was conducted: PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science and Wiley Online Library. Empirical studies examining laypersons and researcher’s definitions of bullying or how differences in the format of the definition of bullying results in varied outcomes were eligible to be included in this review. As traditional forms of bullying differ from cyber-bullying research on the latter were excluded.
Findings
Only 17 of the 18,045 screened met the study eligibility criteria. In total, 12 of the screened studies explored how participants define bullying and five explored how the different presentation of the definition may lead to different reported prevalence. The findings showed that laypersons definitions of bullying are not only inconsistent but they rarely meet the criteria used by researchers. The varying presentations of the bullying definition also affected outcomes with the more detailed definitions leading to a better understanding of the behaviour.
Research limitations/implications
Researchers should always provide a definition of bullying to participants either in a written format or if possible in a more detail like an educational video that clearly highlights the five characteristics researchers used to define the behaviour.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that reviews empirical studies on the definition of bullying.
Whilst an international shortage of male teachers has received much research attention, to date, no study has tracked the trajectory of male teachers in any country. Drawing on annual workplace data, we calculated the proportion of male teachers in Australia from 1965 to 2016. We separate the data for Government and non-Government (Independent and Catholic) schools, and for primary and secondary schools. Findings indicate a strong decline in male representation in the Government sector. A similar rate of decline is observed in both primary and secondary schools. Of significance to educators, policy makers, and the public - no current Australian workforce diversity policies aim to redress this decline. This strong decline is not matched in the Catholic sector, however.
This study examines the nature, prevalence and impact of educator targeted bullying (ETB) in a sample of 575 Malaysian school teachers. Specifically it was predicted that ethnicity may be related to exposure to ETB; that frequency of exposure would vary by type of ETB; that there would be tenure-related differences in terms of exposure and burnout; and that teaching experience could moderate the exposure-burnout relationship. Results suggest that less severe forms of ETB are more prevalent than physical forms; and that educators with increased teaching experience are less exposed to ETB. ETB exhibits a negative impact on burnout; and is strongest for student-related burnout. Increased experience buffers the ETB–student-related burnout relationship while ethnicity is unrelated to exposure to ETB.
Problem Statement The studies investigating bullying behaviours exhibited by students toward teachers are limited in number. Since teachers are perceived as powerful adults compared to the teenagers and are responsible for managing the classroom, it is commonly thought that they cannot be considered the victims of students. Such thoughts may have put limitations on research studies examining this matter. It is known that student-teacher interactions have effects on school climate and are extremely important in terms of carrying out anti-bullying programs. For this reason, it was thought that collecting more detailed data about bullying behaviours exhibited by students toward teachers can provide useful information for prevention efforts. Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this research is to determine the existence and characteristics of students' bullying toward teachers in Turkey according to the gender of teachers and to draw the attention of those preparing anti-bullying programs and of teacher trainers to the subject. Methods: Participants of the study were volunteer teachers (n=540) serving at the Osmangazi district of Bursa city. A questionnaire was used to determine behaviours related to bullying exhibited by students toward teachers according to teacher perceptions. The obtained data were analyzed by using frequencies, percentages, and chi square tests. Results: The comparisons showed that there were no significant differences among bullied and non-bullied participant teachers in terms of gender. On the other hand, male teachers experienced more physical bullying and female teachers experienced more verbal bullying and gossiping. It was determined that there are significant differences among female and male teachers in terms of the gender of the students and in terms of some locations. Conclusions and Recommendations: The findings showed that the gender of the teachers and students are important in terms of bullying behaviours exhibited by students toward teachers. Therefore, it should be taken into consideration if bullying is included in the content of whole school anti-bullying programs, pre-service, and in-service teacher training programs. In this context, it is believed that future research investigating the differences between bullied and non-bullied teachers, the characteristics of bully students, the variables such as school size, class size, and the effects of students' bullying toward teachers on school climate and teacher performance will contribute to the improvement of teacher education programs and anti-bullying programs.
This article examines the responses to an exercise administered over a 10-year period to graduate-level psychology students in an advanced methodology seminar, to explore one of the central questions of qualitative research: What theories about identity do we bring to our analyses of first-person interview narratives? It suggests that researchers’ interpretations of what appear to be inconsistent and/or conflicting statements by interview subjects about their experience within the course of an interview can serve as a conceptual touchstone reflecting core assumptions about identity. Students’ responses to the exercise, which asked them to interpret two statements by an interview subject that seem to self-contradict, have consistently favored the type of dichotomous analytical paradigms associated with modernist conceptions of a unified self. This trend may be reflective of an insufficiently developed interpretive lexicon within postmodern narrative analysis. The author offers an interpretive approach termed ‘strong multiplicity’ to reflect the possibility of finding legitimate expressions of identity among seemingly inconsistent self-representations.
In this study we investigated the relations between reactive and proactive aggressiveness in pupils and a perceptual orientation described as interest in signs of weakness in a teacher who is new to the class. Self-reported data were collected from a sample of 10th grade pupils. There was a substantial and significant relation between proactive aggressiveness and a perceptual orientation towards weakness in teachers new to the class. Reactive aggressiveness was significantly but weakly related to perceptual orientation towards weakness. Results are discussed as adding to knowledge about the two types of aggressiveness, and as information that can guide teachers' practice.
Changes in public sector management need to be unpacked for different sectors to understand their impact in a particular country. This article focuses on the governance of the feminized profession of teaching in Australia, the single largest professional grouping in the country. Neoliberal assumptions have been built into teachers’ work through policy change in three related ‘waves’. The first wave in the 1980s installed managerialism in public education by recentralizing curriculum policy, establishing ‘self-managing’ schools, and downsizing infrastructure. The second wave in the 1990s steered teachers’ work through federal intervention into curriculum, and individualization of teachers’ work in contexts of marketization; this wave consolidated a national political role in education. The third wave in the 2000s emphasized the codification of knowledge through establishment of standards and criteria for teacher employment and promotion. The article concludes that the governance efforts to steer teachers’ work by neoliberal assumptions have been significantly, but not totally, effective.
As the number of male teachers in primary schools continues to decrease, the resultant gender imbalance has become the focus of increased discussion and debate. While the reasons for the decline in the number of males enrolling in teacher education are complex and multi-faceted, four factors which have been identified as contributing to the decline are experiences and attitudes related to status, salary, working in a predominantly female environment, and physical contact with children. In an attempt to explore the extent to which they were concerned and challenged by these factors, focus group interviews were conducted with practising male primary school teachers. The study confirms that each of the four issues has the potential to influence the decision to take up a career in teaching and to impact on job satisfaction and performance.
Purpose
– This study seeks to identify 172 American elementary, middle, and high school teachers' perceptions of the major sources and intensity of the experience of mistreatment by a principal, the effects of such mistreatment, how these perceptions varied by demographic variables, teachers' coping skills, and teachers' perceptions of contributing factors.
Design/methodology/approach
– Participants completed a piloted, validated online questionnaire.
Findings
– The participants reported experiencing a wide range of abusive principal behaviors that resulted in serious or extensive harmful psychological/emotional, physical/physiological, and work‐related effects to themselves, their work, and their families. An overwhelming majority (77 percent) indicated they would leave their job for another because of the harm caused by the principal's mistreatment. Mistreated teachers typically did not enact problem‐focused coping strategies. Differences were found among teachers of various demographic categories for several variables.
Originality/value
– The findings of this current, quantitative study expand the authors' earlier qualitative research on the topic of teacher mistreatment; these are the only studies on this topic completed in the USA. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are included.
This article provides a summary of work done by Raven and his colleagues on bases of power. It ranges from the initial work in 1959 of French and Raven through decades of follow-up work, and ties the work to that of others doing work on power bases. After the summary, the author responds to a series of questions that probe the work in greater depth, allowing explication of much of the thinking underlying and leading to publications of Raven and colleagues that are well known to social psychologists.
This article examines the question of gender-neutral workplace bullying policy in the Australian context. It draws on the international workplace bullying literature and interview data gathered from policy actors located in Australian public service administrations, including managers, policy implementors and employee advocates. Our findings show that both the literature and the policy actors tend to present workplace bullying as a product of individualised behaviour, overlooking the nuances and dimensions of organisational power relations that include gender. As part of this tendency, policy actors insisted that workplace bullying be represented as gender-neutral. Our analysis reveals two key factors underpinning the defence and dissemination of workplace bullying as a gender-neutral problem: the tendency to individualistic remedies in public sector policies; and the idea among policy actors that if workplace bullying was portrayed as needing gender analysis, its current support as an important organisational issue would dissolve.
Data collected from 731 teachers were used to examine the consequences of violence directed toward teachers while in the workplace. Analyses showed that the majority of respondents (n = 585, 80.0%) had experienced school-related violence—broadly defined—at one point in their careers. Serious violence (actual, attempted, or threatened physical violence) was less common, but still common enough to be of concern (n = 202, 27.6%). Violence predicted physical and emotional effects, as well as teaching-related functioning. In addition, a model with fear as a potential mediator revealed that both fear and violence were independently predictive of these negative outcomes. Finally, analyses showed that, in general, women reported higher levels of physical symptoms compared to men. We discuss the implications of violence against teachers in terms of personal consequences and the implications for mental health professionals working in an educational setting.
In the now vast empirical and theoretical literature on wellbeing knowledge of the subject is provided mainly by psychology and economics, where understanding of the concept are framed in very different ways. We briefly rehearse these, before turning to some important critical points which can be made about this burgeoning research industry, including the tight connections between the meanings of the concept with the moral value systems of particular 'modern' societies. We then argue that both the 'science' of wellbeing and its critique are, despite their diversity, re-connected by and subsumed within the emerging environmental critique of modern consumer society. This places concerns for individual and social wellbeing within the broader context of global human problems and planetary wellbeing. A growing number of thinkers now suggest that Western society and culture are dominated by materialistic and individualistic values, made manifest at the political and social levels through the unending pursuit of economic growth, and at the individual level by the seemingly endless quest for consumer goods, regardless of global implications such as broader environmental harms. The escalating growth of such values is associated with a growing sense of individual alienation, social fragmentation and civic disengagement and with the decline of more spiritual, moral and ethical aspects of life. Taken together, these multiple discourses suggest that wellbeing can be understood as a collateral casualty of the economic, social and cultural changes associated with late modernity. However, increasing concerns for the environment have the potential to counter some of these trends, and in so doing could also contribute to our wellbeing as individuals and as social beings in a finite world.
Understanding teacher-targeted bullying: Commenters’ views
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