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Saturday, Feb 22, 2025
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Over half of teachers run into bullying
More than half of 1,283 teachers who responded to a union survey said they encountered workplace bullying over the past six months.
Results of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union poll were announced yesterday - two years after teacher Lam Lai-tong fell to her death at TWGHs Leo Tung-hai Lee Primary School in Tin Shui Wai.
The survey took in 1,283 teachers between February 25 and March 7 at 544 secondary, 657 primary and 82 special schools while investigating workplace culture.
It resulted in 53.8 percent of respondents saying they encountered bullying at least once over the six months.
Around 54 percent said they "always" or "sometimes" encountered bullying, 26 percent said they were bullied at least once every month on average, and around 14 percent experienced bullying once or more every week.
Workplace bullying was defined as a person being offended, teased, threatened or isolated due to abuses of power or unfair treatment.
"We worry that there are situations bearing similarity to Lam's case that we are unaware of," said PTU vice-president Ip Kin-yuen.
He said the union found that bullying by a superior happened more often than bullying by colleagues. On that, almost 50 percent of teachers did not think they were respected or treated fairly by superiors.
Around 40 percent disagreed with the notion they are respected or treated fairly by colleagues. About half of them would not stand up for colleagues if they were not being treated fairly, with most fearing retaliation such as falling victim to bullying themselves or even losing their jobs.
The union also found incorporated management committee members needed to seek more effective communications with teachers as 64.1 percent said their officials did not represent their opinions.
PTU president Fung Wai-wah said it had invited the Education Bureau to discuss issues but had not received a response.
"The bureau may consider Miss Lam's case as an individual incident, but it is also the bureau's responsibility to prevent such incidents from happening again," Fung said.
The union has encouraged members to seek help when encountering emotional problems caused by workplace bullying. Complaints can go to its department tasked with handling such issues while legal advice can be sought when there are serious cases.
The survey took in 1,283 teachers between February 25 and March 7 at 544 secondary, 657 primary and 82 special schools while investigating workplace culture.
It resulted in 53.8 percent of respondents saying they encountered bullying at least once over the six months.
Around 54 percent said they "always" or "sometimes" encountered bullying, 26 percent said they were bullied at least once every month on average, and around 14 percent experienced bullying once or more every week.
Workplace bullying was defined as a person being offended, teased, threatened or isolated due to abuses of power or unfair treatment.
"We worry that there are situations bearing similarity to Lam's case that we are unaware of," said PTU vice-president Ip Kin-yuen.
He said the union found that bullying by a superior happened more often than bullying by colleagues. On that, almost 50 percent of teachers did not think they were respected or treated fairly by superiors.
Around 40 percent disagreed with the notion they are respected or treated fairly by colleagues. About half of them would not stand up for colleagues if they were not being treated fairly, with most fearing retaliation such as falling victim to bullying themselves or even losing their jobs.
The union also found incorporated management committee members needed to seek more effective communications with teachers as 64.1 percent said their officials did not represent their opinions.
PTU president Fung Wai-wah said it had invited the Education Bureau to discuss issues but had not received a response.
"The bureau may consider Miss Lam's case as an individual incident, but it is also the bureau's responsibility to prevent such incidents from happening again," Fung said.
The union has encouraged members to seek help when encountering emotional problems caused by workplace bullying. Complaints can go to its department tasked with handling such issues while legal advice can be sought when there are serious cases.
