Spineless Teachers and Bullies in the workplace Flinders University

It is my experience that those dedicated ESL teachers who care about their professional ethics and their own performance in their job are often seen as a threat by bullying operational managers and their faceless bureaucratic masters and mistresses in the hierarchy who inhabit the offices at the back of the workplace.

Such teachers eventually become a target of the bullies.

When this happens, to make matters worse, in order to survive, quite often the colleagues of such conscientious teachers are then obliged to participate in the bullying or, at the very least , turn a blind eye to it.

You see , the bully is not content to victimise the victim -he/she must have the cooperation of other colleagues in order to legitimise the bullying in the bully's own eyes. He must have stooges.

Sadly, most teachers in my experience are happy to assist in the legitimisation of the bullying in order to remain in favour with the bully. It is a bit like forcing a witness to participate in a rape so that the witness will keep quiet later about the crime. The witness becomes a rapist too.

It also reminds me of the now infamous scientific experiment in which a person in the role of doctor was asked to inflict pain on a person playing the role of patient in order to continue receiving the approval of the experimenter. Surprisingly, most people playing the role of Doctor were indeed ok with inflicting pain on the patient -just in order to retain the approval of authority.

Throughout my career it has disappointed me to learn that most teachers are prepared to be stooges in order to survive - and they appear to able to sleep soundly on it. Others are not so happy about it but will do it anyway and then keep a low profile, avoid the victim, and stay away from him/her in the staffroom. Keeping away from the victim in order not to be reminded of their collusion is cowardice.. Either way most teachers seem to willingly sell their soul in order to survive themselves.

Darwin would have explained these observations by telling us that people are ultimately only looking out for themselves and their offspring-their genes.

In which case it should come as no surprise that some victims have a desire to attack and destroy bullies and stooges.

Darwin would say it is human nature.

The devout would tell us to forgive the bullies and the stooges.

But how can you forgive a sin unless the sinner first admits the sin?

Do you know of a bully or a stooge who will admit to being one?

And yet, dear teacher,most of your colleagues are one or the other.


The moral of the story-is to find another profession if you are young enough to do so.

Free at last!

This is my experience as a teacher for thirty five years in many different countries and contexts.

Most teachers are cowards.

For thirty years as a teacher I have watched teachers hide, run and ultimately serve themselves as their colleagues are eliminated by poor or corrupt managers.

People in Australia these days are so afraid of losing their contracts.

Why?

A lifetime of contracting overseas as a teacher has taught me one thing-if nothing else--that the contract is not worth the paper it is written on. No matter where it is, from the UK to Australia, from South America to the Middle-East and from Africa to Asia -the contract has meant meant almost nothing to the two signatories!

Well, are you going to sue the Sultan of Brunei or the Sheik of the United Arab Emirates? No.

Are you in a position to sue anyone overseas? No!

Is it worth while suing your boss in Australia or the UK? of course not -do you have the money for legal aid? Do you want to get all the dirty jobs to do? or be blacklisted by the bosses friends in the 'industry' ? Of course not!

I am 58, and I have come to the conclusion that I don't want a contract as a language teacher in Australia. A contract is a trap designed to force me do what someone else in the company wants me to do.

I want my freedom and will remain as a casual employee.

That way, my employer has to be reasonable. If he or she isn't -then I will walk away.

In the old days the union would have ensured the employer behaved-but the unions have been broken by the employers, by the selfishness of Union officials and of union members. The Unions are now are now weak.

So now, after a war of attrition for about forty years, employers and their stooges in mangaement have what they want -a more-or- less powerless employee to exploit and manipulate at will.

There is a way out of this depressing mess for the employee. But you have to pay for it. There is a way out.

Only the wealthy really seek contracts-because the job isn't really essential to their survival. The wealthy teacher deludes him/herself that they actually need a contract when , in fact, they don't need it -they just want it.

You don't need a contract-all you have to do is be prepared to give up something. But there is the rub!

The teacher who is comfortably off is never prepared to do that. He/she is addicted to their own material comforts.

So,the teacher who is comfortably-off is a problem. He/she is invariably a coward who, when push comes to shove, will hang his/her colleagues out to dry.

I don't care if I have no house, less money, no holidays , no sick leave. I am prepared to give all that away. I don't need a house -I can rent one.

Nobody is going to hang a mortgage around my neck and imprison me.

When I am casual the bosses have to be pleasant and reasonable to me or I will leave and work somewhere else -or not at all.

If I sign a contract my bosses will eventually exploit me -and my colleagues will just sit and watch and do nothing as I am crushed in front of their eyes.

That has been my experience , anyway.

I find this new freedom quite liberating. I am a free agent at last. I no longer care what the boss thinks -or who his/her 'pet' on the staff currently is or indeed, what such people think of me.

People talk about working FOR someone. I now want to satisfy myself first-and only then other people. I feel much freer at last .

What do I get out of all this?

Self-respect.

Cheap at twice the price!

I wonder have other people had the same experience in the workplace?

mind you -if there is no work what happens?