Educators' Perceptions of Bullying Behaviours by School Leadership in the Gauteng Province, South Africa

Bullying in schools is a global phenomenon; however, most studies mainly focus on students, and less on educators being bullied by either the principal, the learners, or the parents of the learners. Research on workplace bullying (WPB) in occupations, identified teaching as a high-risk job. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of bullying behaviours by school leadership in South African schools. The data were collected via a structured questionnaire and analysed using appropriate statistical tests. The data revealed one latent factor, which was named the frequency of educators' perceptions of downward bullying behaviour in the primary school. This factor consisted of three reliable sub-scales. Educators believed that they seldom experienced downward-bullying behaviour; but they had to comply with mandated policy directives from school-management teams.