Browsing by Author "Rössi, Johanna"

Objectives. Previous studies on teachers being cross-peer abused and harassed by students and parents are scarce and mostly all but one is over ten years old. Previous studies point out that students inappropriate behavior was more common than parents inappropriate behavior and most common form of inappropriate behavior was verbal harassment. In addition, studies have shown that inappropriate behavior is more common than systematic bullying and physical violence differs in primary and secondary school. The subject has been studied by Kivivuori, Tuominen and Aromaa (1999), Salmi and Kivivuori (2009), Rantala (Rantala & Keskinen, 2005) as well as by Kauppi and Pörhölä (2010). This thesis investigates comprehensive school headmasters vision of teachers being bullied and harrassed. The aim is to find out how the headmasters experience this phenomenon and how the conflicts are being solved. The theory of conflict management is being used to study this phenomenon. Conflict management has not been previously studied in the school context and therefore the templates applied are originally designed for private sector companies. Methods. The material was collected by semi-structured interviews and there were eight interviewees, all of them were comprehensive schools headmasters in Helsinki. Phenomenography was used as a research orientation and as an analysis method. The analysis of the data was four-step and conformed to Niiko’s (2003) description of phenomenographic analysis. Results and Conclusion. According to the headmasters bullying of teachers was a marginal phenomenon and inappropriate behavior confronted by teachers was more common than systematic bullying. Headmasters thought that situations were a matter of interaction and the causes of bullying and harassment were manifold. Students and parents who were harassing teacher might felt bad and they might had contacts with health care or child welfare. In resolving the situation the headmasters underlined presence of multiple adults, transparence, good interaction and rapid communication. Headmasters saw the teachers primarily as an civil servant and they considered it important that teachers followed the law and other instructions. The headmasters felt that they had not received training for the situations and their functions were guided by previous experience and self-acquired knowledge.