Four percent of teachers experienced bullying

About 4 percent of Czech teachers have experienced bullying and they suffer from serious problems such as exhaustion, according to a research involving scientists from the SYRI National Institute. Teachers in schools where they feel supported by management are less exhausted.

The researchers looked primarily at teacher exhaustion. "This is closely linked not only to problematic student behavior, which has been shown repeatedly in a number of studies, but also to bullying by colleagues, an important new finding. The role of workplace bullying in this regard has not yet been fully explored. Our results showed that although only a relatively small proportion (3.8 percent) of teachers report ever being bullied by colleagues or supervisors, this proportion of teachers are at risk of serious difficulties, including exhaustion," said Lenka Kollerová of the SYRI National Institute and the Psychological Institute of the Academy of Sciences.

The research, which involved 740 teachers of second-level primary schools and the corresponding years of grammar schools, showed that support from supervisors contributes to lower teacher exhaustion. The researchers defined supervisor support as the ability to turn to management for ideas and problems. Employees should feel that they work well with their supervisors.

"Also, greater involvement of more experienced teachers in supporting novice colleagues could yield positive results, as more experienced teachers were less exhausted, in line with other studies conducted in the country," Kollerová said.

Mental and physical exhaustion is one of the key aspects of professional burnout, which threatens teachers' mental well-being and occupational health. It is also one of the reasons why some teachers leave the profession. This condition is linked not only to factors such as pupil behaviour but also to the school environment. Researchers are now mapping how many teachers have experienced burnout and what factors have influenced it.

Burnout is mainly a manifestation of long-term stress. It encompasses several states, the most striking of which, according to the researchers, is emotional exhaustion, when teachers feel they do not have enough energy to devote to their work.

"We will be able to link data on the occupational health of teachers to the quality of their working conditions, but also to teaching styles, the quality of teaching and other data that relate directly to those specific schools," says Kateřina Zábrodská from SYRI.