When School Is Not Safe for Teachers Either: Workplace Bullying in Education
Jakub Kumaszka
August 2026
After twenty years of working at the same school, a teacher begins to dread staff meetings. Not because she is afraid of public speaking, but because she knows how they will end: once again, the headteacher will comment on her work in a way that makes sure everyone in the room understands that something is wrong, without ever saying exactly what. When she tries to describe the situation to her colleagues, she is no longer sure whether she is overreacting. After all, it was only a meeting, only a minor remark. Except that it has been happening for months, always to her, always in the same way.
This article is not about violence by students towards teachers, although that is a separate and very real problem. It is about something discussed far less often: workplace bullying experienced by teachers at the hands of school leaders and their own colleagues. What distinguishes such a situation from an ordinary, albeit difficult, workplace conflict is its repetitive and targeted nature: the same behaviours directed at the same person over an extended period of time, resulting in their humiliation, marginalisation, or isolation.
The Scale of the Problem in Polish Schools
Research into this issue has been conducted in Poland for many years and has consistently shown that education is a sector particularly vulnerable to workplace bullying. In 2006, the Central Institute for Labour Protection surveyed 1,098 teachers from 120 institutions across five cities. The prevalence of workplace bullying was found to be 10%, while the most common negative behaviours reported by respondents included having their opinions ignored and being burdened with excessive workloads. The perpetrators were most often supervisors and individuals occupying higher positions within the school hierarchy (Warszewska-Makuch, 2008).
A more recent nationwide study involving a random sample of 1,214 teachers confirmed and expanded on this picture. As many as 63% of respondents had experienced inappropriate treatment at work, while almost one in ten teachers had, at some point in their professional career, experienced behaviours meeting the criteria for workplace bullying. More than half of respondents had encountered hostile, dignity-undermining, humiliating, or unethical behaviour from colleagues or supervisors. Those who had experienced such treatment were significantly more likely to report symptoms of professional burnout, including greater emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment (Mościcka-Teske, Drabek, & Pyżalski, 2014).
In other words, almost one in ten teachers in Poland has experienced something that psychologists researching this field would describe explicitly as workplace bullying rather than merely conflict or misunderstanding.
Why Schools in Particular?
Researchers applying the Job Demands–Resources model, commonly known as the JD-R model, show that workplace bullying is most likely to develop in environments where job demands are high and resources — such as support, autonomy, and effective management — are limited (Ariza-Montes et al., 2016). Schools fit this description remarkably well. Teachers spend most of their working day alone in the classroom, with little immediate support from colleagues. Hierarchies within educational institutions can be clearly defined and relatively inflexible. Administrative and extracurricular workloads continue to increase, while teachers often have limited genuine influence over how their work is organised.
A five-year German study involving a representative sample of employees found a similar pattern: workplace restructuring, high work intensity, and excessive workloads increased the risk of experiencing workplace bullying in subsequent years, whereas having influence over one’s own work and experiencing good-quality management had a protective effect (Conway et al., 2021).
In other words, workplace bullying rarely develops solely because of the personality of one difficult individual. More often, it grows within an environment that makes such behaviour easier: one that is overloaded, hierarchical, or poorly managed.
More Roles Than Just Perpetrator and Target
In her book on toxic workplaces, Kim Scott points out that situations involving workplace bullying usually include more people than simply the perpetrator and the person being targeted (Scott, 2023). There are also bystanders — people who see what is happening but remain silent — as well as those in leadership positions who have the authority to intervene but often fail to do so because they do not want to become involved or simply do not know how to respond effectively.
This observation is particularly relevant in the staffroom. Many teachers who have never personally been subjected to workplace bullying have nevertheless witnessed it. They have seen a colleague stop being invited to social gatherings, someone repeatedly being assigned the least favourable cover duties, or a headteacher publicly criticising the same person at every staff meeting.
The silence of bystanders is not neutral, even though it is rarely malicious. Quite simply, it allows such patterns to continue for longer than they might have if someone had intervened earlier.
What Can Actually Be Done?
Check whether what you are experiencing falls within the legal definition of workplace bullying, and document incidents as they happen. Under Article 94³ of the Polish Labour Code, several conditions must be met simultaneously: the behaviour must be persistent and prolonged, directed at a specific person, undermine their perceived professional competence, and aim to or result in humiliation, ridicule, or isolation. A single heated exchange does not meet this definition, but months of repeated exclusion, ignoring, or disproportionately burdening the same person may.
Keep a record of dates, details, and potential witnesses. Not because you necessarily need to go straight to court, but because it gives you something concrete to rely on beyond your own increasingly exhausted memory and judgement.
Seek support outside your own school. Several anti-bullying organisations in Poland offer free psychological and legal support to people experiencing workplace bullying. Our Foundation – Fundacja Kiedy Cichnie Dzwonek / The Quiet After Ringing Foundation – also provides support to teachers facing difficult, harmful, or potentially bullying-related situations at work. You can contact us at: kontakt@kiedycichniedzwonek.pl.
We also work with the Barbara Grabowska Anti-Bullying Association, Warsaw Branch (Stowarzyszenie Antymobbingowe im. Barbary Grabowskiej, Oddział Warszawski), which specialises in supporting people experiencing workplace bullying and can help them better understand their situation and consider possible next steps. Telephone: +48 22 302 90 01, email: jtpiekarska@gmail.com.
Speaking to someone outside your school – someone independent of the institution and its internal relationships – can be an important first step. It can help you make sense of what is happening, gain some distance and perspective, put your experience into words, and consider which forms of support or action may be most appropriate in your situation.
If you are a witness, do not assume it is none of your business. You do not necessarily need to confront the person engaging in the bullying directly. Sometimes something much simpler is enough: telling the colleague being targeted that you saw what happened and that it was not normal. It costs very little, but for someone caught in the middle of such a situation, it can be powerful evidence that they are not imagining what is happening.
Remember that employers have a legal obligation to prevent workplace bullying. This is not a matter of the headteacher’s goodwill; it is a requirement under the Labour Code. Schools that take this responsibility seriously establish internal reporting procedures and respond meaningfully when concerns are raised. It is worth checking whether such a procedure exists in your own institution.
A Systemic Issue, Not Just a Personality Problem
It is easy, especially in a school staffroom, to reduce workplace bullying to the personality of one difficult individual. The evidence discussed above points to a broader picture: bullying is more likely to develop where workloads are excessive, hierarchies are rigid, and support is weak.
This creates an environment in which one “difficult” person has greater scope to act without consequences. Changing the culture of a school does not depend solely on the goodwill of the headteacher, nor on the resilience or patience of one person being targeted. It also depends on whether the other teachers in the building decide to stop remaining silent.
About the Author
Jakub Kumaszka is a fifth-year psychology student with a particular interest in combining psychology with statistics and evidence-based approaches. He has been interested in teachers and education, especially within the Polish context, for many years, including from a personal perspective: as the son of teachers, he grew up observing the profession from their side and listening to what they had to say about their work.
This article brings together that personal sensitivity, psychological knowledge, and a genuine desire to provide meaningful support to the people who stand in front of classrooms every day.
References
Ariza-Montes, A., Muniz, N. M., Leal-Rodríguez, A. L., & Leal-Millán, A. G. (2016). Workplace bullying among teachers: An analysis from the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model perspective. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 58(8), 818–827.
Conway, P. M., Burr, H., Rose, U., Clausen, T., & Balducci, C. (2021). Antecedents of workplace bullying among employees in Germany: Five-year lagged effects of job demands and job resources. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(20), 10805.
Polish Labour Code, Article 94³ (Act of 26 June 1974, consolidated text).
Mościcka-Teske, A., Drabek, M., & Pyżalski, J. (2014). Doświadczanie mobbingu i wrogich zachowań w miejscu pracy a występowanie objawów wypalenia zawodowego u nauczycieli. Medycyna Pracy, 65(4), 535–542.
Scott, K. (2023). Toksyczne miejsce pracy. Jak skutecznie walczyć z uprzedzeniami, stereotypami, tyranią czy mobbingiem. Warsaw: MT Biznes.
Warszewska-Makuch, M. (2008). Zjawisko mobbingu wśród nauczycieli. Bezpieczeństwo Pracy. Nauka i Praktyka, 2008(5), 6–9.