Are we losing sight of why we teach, because of ill treatment by colleagues? E.A. Francis investigates. Source: TES
I have read so many heart breaking responses to my blogs about unjust grievances and disciplinary action it has got me thinking about what we are all doing that is being deemed so offensive and in need of being so severely punished.
People think they are bad teachers, bad colleagues, bad people. They think this because they have been told this. They have been broken into believing this. What, in the name of all things equal, is happening to our ‘selves’? We are so busy accusing each other of everything and anything that we are losing sight of the actual reason why we go to work every day.
This is not just another one of the many pieces of writing about bullying. In truth, it could be perceived as the absolute antithesis. But bullying is its main theme. I want to save us all from being bullied into being what and who we are not. The majority of us have the ability to assert our rights without violating someone else’s. Most of us know what is acceptable and what is not. It would appear that even those who are inherently nice are suspected of having a hidden agenda.
Have we really evolved into this species of bigots, intimidators and hypocrites? Are we so desperately in need of being saved by our thoughts that they need (for our own good) to be decided upon by others? Are we so potentially dangerous in terms of what comes out of our mouths that it needs to be universally accepted, deemed appropriate and mutually agreeable? Are we so frightening and misanthropic that it is urgent we are gagged by policy?
Or have we simply disagreed with or professionally threatened the wrong person?
Every report I have heard about and read about, records a submitted grievance or a trumped up charge, simply for an individual being different in some way. This difference is mainly success and competence.
Throughout history, people have voiced their opinions and asserted their personalities, professional and moral abilities and beliefs. Indeed we celebrate these innovators within our classrooms. It is how we progressed and evolved as a society. In this day and age we are so busy looking for what could be translated as ‘offending’, we are losing sight of what is actually offensive.
Losing our freedom of speech is offensive. Refusing to compliment a successful colleague is offensive. Focusing on gossip and rumour instead of focusing on our pupils and the successes of our colleagues is offensive. Ridding a school of someone because you simply don’t like them for whatever reason is offensive. Inventing breaches of conduct and destroying people in the process is not just offensive, it is reprehensible and unlawful.
My analysis is that all of the individuals wrongfully accused of breaching the Codes of their school’s Conduct, personally or professionally, have been seen as a threat. Successful individuals are punished for showing a pride in their work and being perceived as showing up a ‘face fitting’ colleague/s for incompetence. In truth it would appear from the many accounts that the very accusations made against someone are nearly always owned by the person or people making them.
But does policy really protect you if it is your own alleged behaviour it is addressing? It would seem not.
People in authority appear to be corrupting policy in order to meet their own agendas. It is easier to break a member of staff into resigning than to address a person’s motivation for making a complaint. Unions back complaints made against individuals, and schools are all too aware of the unions wanting to see results – lest they go for the school.
So what is happening is that people are being made to be afraid of standing up and being counted for having a professional opinion and daring to voice it, especially if that opinion differs from that of someone who has standing within a school. A member of staff with a different ‘vision’ can be made to resign as soon as the word ‘capability’ is whispered against them.
Everyone seems to be paralysed by fear. Schools appear to fear unions, unions appear to fear losing cases but also appear to fear fighting them, LEA’s appear to fear being sued, Head teachers fear adverse publicity and individuals fear having their lives wrecked.
This fear of being our ‘Selves’ is strangling our very core of what makes us human, what makes us different and unique. It is killing the diversity of our characters, our up-bringing, our hobbies, our traditions, our religious convictions, our personalities, our mental health but most of all, it is killing our liberty.
To all those who have been in the position of having a complaint made against you which you truly believe is unjust, I wish you strength to heal and the conviction to regain a sense of who you once were. Look at what is important to you and remember everything that has happened to you, although unjust, says more about your accusers than it does you.
Do not be paralysed by a fear of your future. Communicate with others, your feelings of desperation, until these feelings stop controlling you. The chances are you have got this far in your life with friends, the love of your family and a self respect you have never had challenged before. Please remember this and don’t let them win.
If you chose to leave teaching, then feel positive about what you can do in the future. Again, your previous successes cannot be ignored and may even be repeated. Surround yourself with people who enjoy your company, not spurn it, who celebrate your highs and not condemn you for them. Please start living again. This was not your fault.
