Teacher describes relentless bullying at work - as power imbalance making profession toxic for many
news.sky.com
Sky News exposes the scale of staff-on-staff bullying at UK schools from more than 320 current and former teachers. Some have suffered a devastating emotional toll and were paid thousands to "keep quiet".

When Maya* started a new teaching job, she did not expect to be called the n-word as she walked down the corridor.

The bullying from her fellow teachers proved relentless. She was called a “curry lover” and believes she was hidden from meeting parents at one point due to her skin colour.

It was not just racism she faced there but also sexism. Male colleagues told her she would have to “bend over a desk to get a promotion” and had “blowjob lips”. Incidents like these happened “almost every day”, she says.

Eventually forced to leave her job, Maya signed a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) making her unable to speak about the abuse she suffered. As part of the conditions of her exit, she also received a significant payout, which she describes as “money to keep quiet”.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
    232·
    13 days ago

    Maya signed a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) making her unable to speak about the abuse she suffered.

    I’m pretty sure such an NDA would be invalid here (EU), an NDA cannot legally prevent you from disclosing experiences of abuse regarding your own person.
    But in USA UK the rules are made mostly for the rich, and in this case, the school is richer than the teacher.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
        72·
        13 days ago

        Yes I warned strongly against Brexit, explaining how it would be bad, and have no real benefits for UK.
        I especially focused on bureaucracy being doubled, but just moved from EU to UK. Something that maybe wasn’t intuitive to realize, but has come obviously true. But I also warned about freedoms being removed, because UK were already walking the line within EU. And of course the obvious issues with economy. Everything I and others warned against has come true. Including the lack of benefits.
        I think Brexit (edit:) campaign has also been a significant factor in making UK way more xenophobic.
        It’s difficult to say exactly because of Covid, but I think the economy is actually hit a bit harder than I expected.

        • Barbarian@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          12·
          13 days ago

          I think Brexit has also been a significant factor in making UK way more xenophobic.

          Personally, I don’t think it’s made the UK more xenophobic. A decent percentage of people supported Brexit due to xenophobia, and the success of the referendum made them more outspoken. Basically, Brexit is a symptom of xenophobia rather than the other way around.

          • palordrolap@fedia.io
            5·
            13 days ago

            Yep. If it wasn’t for the racist vote, Brexit would not have happened. That particular wedge of the pie was just enough to get it over the 50% mark.

            Sure, you could argue for other wedges also being responsible if you order them differently, but, you know, racism is a pretty nasty one and given the context, it seems like the right one to point to as a culprit.

          • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
            72·
            13 days ago

            Not Brexit by itself, the Brexit campaign and debate. I think it amplified the already existing xenophobia.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
        93·
        13 days ago

        Ah yes, it’s even at the very top of the article. 🫣
        AFAIK UK has unfortunately removed citizen protections since leaving EU.
        So I have no idea what their rules are, only that they are worse than they used to be.

    • Fisch@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      5·
      13 days ago

      The rules in the EU are also made for the rich. The difference is just that the EU has at least some left votes in there, so it’s not as bad.