Ed Leadership Profs Continue Efforts in Stopping Principal Mistreatment of Teachers

Some teachers report suffering from serious depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, physical deterioration, and severe isolation due to their employment in public schools. But these ailments are not caused by what you might think: fears of random violence or the pressure of preparing students to score well on new standardized tests. They are the result of bullying bosses – school principals who manipulate power to intimidate teachers.

The husband-and-wife team of Joseph and Jo Blase, both professors in the Department of Workforce Education, Leadership, and Social Foundations, say they have received numerous e-mails from teachers throughout the world sharing their own experiences of principal mistreatment after reading their book based on a qualitative study of the subject, Breaking the Silence: Overcoming the Problem of Principal Mistreatment of Teachers (Corwin Press, 2003).

The Blases say that such mistreatment creates “alarmingly destructive effects on teachers as professionals and as people, reaching directly into classrooms to drastically undermine and even destroy opportunities for effective instruction and student learning.”

“The purpose of the book is to contribute constructively to solutions at all levels,” said Joseph Blase.

In the two years since the groundbreaking research was published, the Blases say they have received countless testimonies of teachers suffering from embarrassment, threats, depression, and humiliation as a result of bullying from their principals.

“I predict the incidents of principal mistreatment will increase with the added stress and pressure of the No Child Left Behind legislation because of the direct relationship between mistreatment and stress,” he said.

“Changes must be made on two different levels: legislation and organization,” he said. Legislation must follow the lead of countries such as Canada and Sweden and create laws that prevent intimidation and mistreatment on the job.

“We must provide practical support structures for both the victims of mistreatment and the purveyors of such mistreatment,” he said. “The training of educational administrators and assessment of administrators must also address such issues as mistreatment awareness, mediation, and prevention.”

The couple, leading professors in the field of educational leadership and administration, have published research in many of the best academic journals and presented their findings at some of the most prestigious academic conferences.

Currently, they are pursuing a quantitative study on principal mistreatment to shed light on what variables are related to bullying situations in schools. They hope such research will continue to encourage legislation and organizational improvement as well as awareness and prevention of such mistreatment.

“How goes the school leaders, so goes the school,” said Blase. Principal mistreatment of teachers affects a school at all levels; therefore, proper legislation and organization that prevent such mistreatment will improve school administration, teacher performance and, in turn, education quality.

Tuesday, July 5, 2005

Writer: Katherine Dodd, 706/542-5889, katdodd@uga.edu
Contact: Joseph Blase, 706/613-8226, blase@uga.edu