Mobbing Used Against Teachers By School Administrators: Examples of Case

Mobbing Used Against Teachers By School Administrators: Examples of Case

Meltem ÖKDEM

ABSTRACT
Mobbing means psychological violence, siege, harassment, inconvenience or annoyance. Mobbing against a teacher in schools can also negatively affect other teachers and create negativities in their performance. Also, this costs society a lot. It is crucial for teachers raising young people who are our future to work peacefully in their workplace both for themselves and students. The purpose of this study was to assess mobbing behaviors which are used by school principals against teachers and are submitted to the court. The study chose the “qualitative” research method. The study reached the mobbing cases opened by teachers against school principals on (www.LegalBank.com). The study investigated the mobbing cases by giving keywords without date restriction. Since the study investigated the court decisions to determine the mobbing behaviors used by school principals against teachers, it used the “document review” method and reached 15 cases between 2013 and 2020 within this scope. As a result of the study the school principals most displayed behaviors in the category of “attacks against professional career” of the teachers. Eight of the cases were attacks against professional career. Then the study reached six mobbing cases against communication. However, the study encountered no behaviors related to “attacks against social relations”. In order to prevent these behaviors, we can recommend the following: Awareness should be raised in teachers concerning psychological harassment/intimidation in schools, seminars should be organized for them to protect from such behaviors via in-service training applications, awareness should be raised in teachers concerning their legal rights, the crime of administrators applying mobbing should be registered and they should not be allowed to get promotion and should be suspended for a certain period of time.

KEYWORDS: Teachers, mobbing, school principals

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