Are teachers able to defend themselves against bullying?

Website www.balsas.lt journalist

Website www.balsas.lt

English

English

Bullying, school, teachers, rights, dignity

Web Article

Parents, Policy Makers, Teachers, Young People, School Directors.

1 - 20 pages

Today's high school life in reality is quite different from that ten years ago. State schools teachers on a daily basis have to deal with severe and sometimes brutal pupils’ behavior.
The jokes go far beyond a healthy sense of humor, offensive comments, ridicule and deliberate provocation is only a fraction of what the teacher is facing in its work. Unfortunately, the even when bell rings, bullying does not stop, and students often capture videos of what they call “interesting situations” in the classroom or in the hallway with their mobile phones, then they upload and share that video material for the whole society to see and judge; web visitors watch those very "funny" situations, and share their “observations” not only about the situation itself, but about the subtleties of teachers work. Is this kind of publicizing without prejudice to the rights of the teacher? Does a teacher want to see his face in “youtube”?

Teachers' rights protection - one of the most painful problems of today's teachers. Today the emphasis is put on children's rights, but it is always forgotten about the adults - teachers' rights. It seems like they are particularly valued as a free youth service providers - the servants. A website’s Journalist interviewed Andrew Navickas, the coordinator of Lithuanian Education Workers' Trade Union of Aukštaitija region; in his attitude, it is primarily a "public attitude on teacher problem in general. The Teacher's specialty is not as prestigious as, say, a banker, judge, or lawyer; also teachers’ salaries after all, are nowhere near when compared to those mentioned above. Students view towards the teacher is brought from the family. If the family says that the teacher is stupid, old-fashioned, boring, this entire attitude is brought to school and shared with all class. And if the attitude is formed by the class leader, everyone else supports it and doesn’t even care to think if its reality or just a subjective opinion. Other pupil supports for the sole reason that they do not want to become the object of ridicule. Then it usually is interpreted as expressing an opinion, democracy, freedom of speech and so on.
The article very aptly notes that in Lithuania is a problem with the installation of video cameras within the school. Cameras are installed by school administration, but are often not registered as the processor of data to the State Data Protection Inspectorate and thus cause a serious infringement of personal data protection law, but often does get appropriate sanctions. This violates not only the students' rights, as is often spoken very loud and clear, but first of all - the teacher. It is not rational, because the teacher is only an employee, not the servant, and if he/she doesn’t want to be filmed everyone should respect their privacy. But when there is cameras installed, the right to personal privacy and dignity is lost and the teacher do not feel safe and secure yet they mostly feel watched and followed.

http://studijos.balsas.lt/moksleiviams/straipsnis/1138/0/ar-mokytojai-pajegus-apsiginti-nuo-patyciu#komentarai

42.pdf

KTU