One in five teachers bullied by parents
Survey: Every third principal face mental cruelty
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Nearly one in five Finnish schoolteachers and one in three principals are targeted with bullying and mental violence by students' parents. The primary level comprehensive school headmasters, in particular, are harassed.
This was the finding of a survey conducted by the Opettaja (Teacher) magazine.
Teachers interviewed by the trade journal said the bullying manifests itself in various forms varying from the spreading of unfounded rumours to verbal abuse and phone calls that can last for hours.
Bullying parents have threatened they would contact the board of education, the provincial administrative board, or the press.
The root of the problem is often diverging views on education and upbringing.
The fact that a pupil's behaviour at home may be different from that at school may sometimes complicate the situation. The pupil may try to escape a difficult situation by lying to parents.
Often the teacher is also used as a scapegoat in the parents' divorce and custody battles.
According to Erkki Kangasniemi, President of the Trade Union of Education in Finland (OAJ), the bullying of teachers is a hidden problem. Teachers do not easily complain about the mental cruelty against them, which - at worst - can lead to exhaustion and burnout.
The threshold to bring a libel suit or to file a report of an offence against a violent student or parents is very high.
Kangasniemi says that the bullying can start, for example, if the teacher wants the pupil to receive special teaching because of poor performance. The parents may find it hard to accept that their child might need remedial teaching.
Often the parents have a poor picture of what is happening at school. They believe the child's isolated report of an incident involving the teacher, but fail to realise that the child may have behaved disruptively for quite some time.
Industrial safety delegate Eeva Toppari from the City of Helsinki Education Department says she rarely receives complaints of bullying. However, when it does happen, the cases tend to be difficult. "They seem to go on forever."
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 31.8.2005 - TODAY |
 One in five teachers bullied by parents
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