Exploring Perceptions of School Principals and Teachers towards Mobbing Behaviours

Abstract

The aim of this study is to reveal the similarities and differences in school principals' and teachers' perceptions of mobbing behaviors. Participants in the study, in which phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research designs, was used, consisted of 30 school principals and 30 teachers. The data obtained through the interview method were analyzed by content analysis. According to the results of the research, it was found that all of the school principals and teachers had knowledge about the concept of mobbing; that school principals and teachers faced with mobbing behaviors in schools, which they expressed as psychological pressure; that school principals perceived mobbing as a multidimensional process and teachers as a supervisor-driven process. In addition, school principals and teachers have a common perception that mobbing has negative effects on the individual such as stress, anger, restlessness and psychological problems, and that victims succumb to mobbing by remaining silent. Both school principals and teachers have a common perception that when they notice an individual who is exposed to mobbing, they will not remain silent, intervene in the mobbing process, and be with the victim. According to school principals, the main reason for mobbing behaviors in schools is lack of empathy and communication. According to many teachers, it is a lack of merit. While evaluating the institutional effects of mobbing, school principals expressed their perceptions mostly in terms of corporate identity, and teachers mostly expressed their perceptions from a private and individual perspective. Most of the school principals consider using legal remedies in the face of mobbing as a strategy to combat mobbing, while half of the teachers follow the strategy of avoiding and ignoring in the face of mobbing. At the end of the study, suggestions were made to reduce mobbing behaviors and on perception differences of school principals and teachers in the school environment.