Heads bully teachers, says union

By Alison Smith
BBC News at the NASUWT annual conference

Schools need to show Ofsted they are addressing problems

Head teachers who observe staff too intensely are in effect bullying them, says the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers.

The union passed a motion saying that excessive and inappropriate lesson observation was unprofessional and "yet another form of management bullying".

Heads were under pressure from school inspectors, the union's annual conference in Birmingham was told.

CCTV and even two-way mirrors had been used to monitor teachers, it heard.

General Secretary Chris Keates said she had heard of these extreme measures being used in secret in classrooms.

The conference was told that teachers are entitled to sufficient warning of any lesson inspection and they should not be subjected to excessive observation without designated objectives or feedback.

I've no sympathy for some heads when I see how they treat their staff Teacher Brian Cook

Some schools are justifying more frequent lesson inspections by saying they need to give an accurate self-evaluation form to Ofsted inspectors.

But teachers need to be trusted to do the job, said Brian Cook, a teacher from Wolverhampton.

Although the head's job had undoubtedly become more difficult, excessive observation was an unacceptable challenge to teachers' professionalism, he said.

"I've no sympathy for some heads when I see how they treat their staff," he said.

"If they do not know what is going on in their own classrooms they should not be in the job.

"Teachers deserve to be trusted. They have been inundated with constant initiatives and standards are rising," he added.

Targeting weakness

Under the new Ofsted school inspection framework, which was introduced last September, schools must fill in self-evaluation forms for the inspectors.

Some teachers and heads have described this as burdensome, although others are pleased schools are able to identify their own strengths and weaknesses.

Miriam Muffett, a teacher in London, said a head had once questioned her ability after she refused to be inspected at two days' notice.

The head had challenged her lesson planning after she asked for one week's notice as a professional courtesy.

Heads can inspect whenever they want with no regard for the additional pressures this puts teachers under Teacher Miriam Muffett

The school, which had been identified as having "serious weaknesses", needed to demonstrate to Ofsted that it was taking action, the head told her.

Ms Muffett told the conference that some heads were using observation forms to set targets for teachers they considered weaker, and that this was unacceptable.

"At present heads can inspect whenever they want, with no regard for the additional pressures this puts teachers under," she added.

Zoe Hawksworth, a teacher from Wakefield, questioned why more observation would help raise standards.

'Added pressure'

"Some head teachers think that teachers identified as weak should be put under extra observation.

"This is an added pressure - why would anyone think this would help a struggling teacher?"

But the conference agreed that head teachers were not the only bullies within schools - some spoke of them having "an enforcer" lower down the chain of command, or of having suffered at the hands of aggressive aspiring heads.