NASUWT Representatives

www.nasuwt.org.uk37BullyingWorkplace bullying is a serious issue for teachers and thereforea concern of the NASUWT Representative if they know orsuspect a member is involved.The NASUWT believes that all children and young people andstaff in schools have a right to learn and work in a safe andsecure environment free from intimidation, harassment, abuseand fear and where they feel valued and respected. There needsto be a whole school approach to tackling bullying: tackling thebullying of staff by other staff is as important as tackling pupilon-pupilbullying and the bullying of staff by pupils.The NASUWT defines bullying as the ‘unjust exercise of powerof one individual over another by the use of means intended tohumiliate, frighten, denigrate or injure the victim’.In 2012 the NASUWT carried out an online survey that showedthat over two thirds of teachers have experienced or witnessedworkplace bullying in the last 12 months and one in fiveteachers have left their job because of bullying from colleaguesor managers.Further Information• Prejudice-relatedBullying/CyberbullyingCard• The experience ofprejudice-relatedbullying andharassment amongstteachers andheadteachers inschools – Report andResearch in Brief• Tackling Prejudice-Related Bullying• TacklingHomophobic Bullying(NASUWT)Prejudice is one of the common motives for bullying. Prejudicerelatedbullying is often characterised by abusive behaviour,intolerance or ostracism on grounds of an individual’s gender,gender identity, ethnicity, body image/size, sexuality, disability,age, religion or belief.The information and communications technology (ICT) that hastransformed the working lives of many people and enhancedlearning and leisure for many children and young people hasalso facilitated the growth of cyberbullying. The growth ofwebsites such as YouTube, RateMyTeachers, Bebo, MySpaceand Facebook means individuals can post offensive,anonymised material on the Internet. Mobile phones can beused to bully through silent or abusive calls and text messages.The NASUWT maintains that action should be taken to preventuse or access by pupils whilst on school premises during schoolsessions. School policies and procedures should neither requireteachers nor encourage them to provide individual mobilephone or e-mail contact details to pupils.Some of the regular manifestations of bullying of staff include:2 competent staff being constantly criticised, havingresponsibilities removed or being given trivial tasks to do;2 shouting at staff;2 persistently picking on people in front of others or inprivate;2 blocking promotion;For advice and help ˚ Local Association ˚ Regional Centre ˚ National Executive