In the previous five years, 40 percent the teacher in Serbia, by its own admission, it experienced violence in the workplace, and as the most frequent bullies, educational workers cited school principals, parents of students, but also students, according to research by the Institute of Social Sciences.
A fifth of those surveyed even claim to be exposed to "continuous violence", mainly different types of mobbing.
More than half of the respondents, and almost 470 teachers participated in the research, stated that they were most often exposed to verbal violence, various types of humiliation and threats of inspection.
Some school principals have become "tools"
A spokeswoman Union of Education Workers Union of Serbia Mirjana Gašić tells "Vreme" that she is not at all surprised by the results of the research and points out that the situation for educators was particularly difficult during the past school year, which she describes as the "most turbulent" school year that educators remember.
"In the circumstances when there was an upsurge of conflict in society, school principals in their attitude towards fellow teachers absolutely must not become a tool in the hands of any party. Employees of to the schools at one point they started protests which were not union, but they were civil, and it was a mature decision of the school employees. In no case should the actions of directors who then embarked on some kind of mobbing or revenge against colleagues who expressed their social views be justified. Those attitudes may be political, but they are primarily social attitudes," says Gašić.
As for the types of mobbing that educators faced because of this, he states that those who were hired for a certain period of time were not extended their contracts.
"These are instruments used by every government and this is not the first time that such things have happened, now maybe everything is just oversized and very easy to see, because there are many such examples and because we live in a time when social networks can transmit just about anything. In such a way, every government wants to discipline collectives in educational institutions," says Gašić.
He also states that there are not enough teaching staff, especially younger colleagues, so "power figured out" how they will behave towards them.
"They simply moved them from one school to another. By moving them, they decided to show who is pulling the strings in the education system," says Gašić.
Pressure from students' parents
The research also showed that educators confirm that they are exposed to parental pressure, most often at the end of the school year when grades are concluded.
Gašić points out that, before the protests started, it was caused by the fall of the canopy, the violence of parents against educators was especially noticeable and dominant.
"For years, there has been a desire and a completely unfounded assessment of parents that their children necessarily deserve all A's and A's, but school is not an institution where you come to fulfill all your wishes. In this discrepancy between the subjective experience of your own child and the objective assessment of the student's work, problems arise between parents and teachers," says Gašić.
Catastrophic situation with "wolves"
He points out that such parents come to schools with the idea that their children know everything and emphasizes that he strongly opposes the prevailing opinion that the teacher "hates" a child or does not want to respect him, which are often the "arguments" such parents present.
"Everyone who came to school with the desire to work with young he wants to convey his knowledge to people, and any kind of pressure on the work of the teacher is an automatic collapse of the dignity of not only that teacher, but also the dignity of the entire school and educational system. That's why we have a catastrophic situation in which there are so many "wolves" and excellent students who later, on the real field, do not know how to master basic life lessons and demonstrate basic knowledge on faculties, but also in work engagement", warns Gašić.
It notes that the changes Criminal Code adopted at the end of last year have greatly protected educators, because those who attack educators can now be sentenced to prison terms.
Proposal on changing the evaluation method
Gašić states that the Union of Education Workers Union of Serbia has a proposal for a solution to the situation in which the authority of teachers is not respected.
"The state should consider changing the way students are evaluated, that is, that they are not evaluated with excellent, very good and good grades, but that their average is counted as their final grade, which would eliminate potential pressure on teachers," says Gašić.
He also cites an example: when a student has an average grade of 3,62 in a subject, he is awarded a four, as well as a student who has an average grade of 4,42 in the same subject.
"If the state, in cooperation with educators, introduced grading based on the average, that is, if the success of students was based on the average grade, then we would not have such massive pressure on teachers," says Gašić.
He adds that it is part of the solution and that teachers are encouraged to reason their assessment.
"Then the teacher - in a situation where a parent claims that his child knows about five, but he got three - would know that other colleagues, the school and the state stand behind him, that is, an adequate administration that confirms that the teacher does not deviate from his grade and does not allow any form of pressure," says Gašić.
Seek help from the union.
The survey also showed that more than 40 percent of respondents were not satisfied with the way the situation was resolved after they reported violence.
First of all, Gašić recommends every teacher who has suffered violence not to give in under pressure and to write to the school director in order to protect his integrity.
"In the event that the school director 'skips' to answer, and is obliged to respond to every submission within eight days, the next instance to which the teacher can turn is the trade union organization. I responsibly claim that the lawyers of the Union of Education Workers' Union of Serbia solve every issue within two days," says Gašić.
He also states that every employee can turn to the school board, as an umbrella organization, which also controls the work of the principal.
"We ignore the role of the school board, which often hides behind the arbitrariness of some directors' decisions, and the school board can demand the dismissal of a director who acts improperly and unprofessionally, or in the event that numerous reports are received against such a director. I understand that teachers do not trust school boards and directors because they consider them to be levers of government, so I invite them to contact their union representatives, in order to oppose the director's arbitrariness and parental pressure," concludes Gašić.
