How can I resolve this?

[Disolusionedteacher]

Name changed for this post. I have been teaching for many years and am UPS3. I currently work in a very toxic school where I am being bullied and treated very badly. It’s difficult (and long) to explain but one person took a dislike to me in my first year at the school and turned a group of her friends against me. (Yes I know it sounds like playground antics!) I raised this at the time and it was dealt with. It wasn’t just me who complained about them and they were warned to stay away at the time. The person who dealt with the situation at the time has now left. Over the past two years I have seen incidences of the colleagues in question undermining me in terms of behaviour, pulling students out of my lessons, encouraging parents to complain about minor issues etc. I have previously had good professional relationships with SLT and line managers, however my new HOD is awful! I raised concerns about the HOD last year along with other staff and we were not listened to. I started looking for another job at that point (and have been since) and being expensive etc, I haven’t had any luck! I get on well with everyone else in my department and for health reasons I decided to stay. The HOD has quite clearly got it in for me and he has involved a member of SLT. I get very good results, there have been no criticisms of my teaching (yet) but it does seem that any opportunity to have a go at me and make things difficult for me is taken. For example, I was spoken to about an issue and despite me informing this person that I wasn’t involved in the situation, she carried on criticising me for things that were verging on character assassination and not even relevant to the issue. I have felt as if I have been constantly subjected to criticisms for either made up or trivial things since the start of the year. I get on well with my department and I’m constantly having people tell me to ‘watch my back’, ‘keep a log’ and that ‘they are fighting my corner’ so I’m definitely not being paranoid.
In an ideal world I would leave and look elsewhere. However, due to me training in a different subject to the one I’ve been teaching for the past 15 years, my age, payscale and other issues, I feel that don’t have any chance of changing schools.
I have involved the union and kept a log, the union rep agrees that it is bullying and is well aware of the bullying culture in the school. However, as soon as one issue has been resolved then another one appears. I’ve never been bullied before and I’m the sort of person who gets on with everyone I meet. I do stand up for myself and am definitely not a yes person though which I don’t think is popular. Not sure what to do. Can I resolve this so that I can stay and not face the inevitable support plan which I feel is the next stage. Any advice would be appreciated.

Sounds like you are doing everything you can do presently. If it escalates then you could file a grievance with HR.

I would raise a grievance now about how you have been treated- get your union rep involved, and if others are in a similar position, then you can do joint grievance together.

If you've just raised a grievance, then putting you on a support plan looks malicious, so they probably wouldn't do that. And ideally HR would take steps to resolve things.

That said, realistically, unless your HoD leaves, things are unlikely to change. I do think you should really try to find a new job. I know you say you struggled before due to being expensive, but there are schools that will want experienced teachers. I think you do have to really sell yourself on the application and at interview- a higher standard will be expected of you than an ECT, for example. What can you bring to the school?

Also, did you use your HoD as a reference previously? Could their reference have been harming you? This is another area to get your rep involved in.

@Frost1111
Thanks, I have got my log and email evidence if it comes to that.

@Postapocalypticcowgirl
Thanks, I have involved the union rep who has passed on my concerns about the latest incident to SLT. Without going into too much details the comments made are so obviously unprofessional that I doubt they will be aware that I could use it against them. A few of us have discussed a collective grievance but the issue is that so many of us want out and are worried that it will affect references. The head has done this to others in the past so it’s a genuine concern. I am still looking to get out and I will keep trying. I haven’t put the HOD down as a referee but I’ve put another member of management who I trust as my second referee. I do wonder if it’s the head’s reference or whether she might be giving it to the HOD to do so that’s a good point. I’ve not had anything about my references come up in feedback but then I have made a few requests for feedback and had nothing back. I’ll definitely investigate that.

Ask to see your reference and then if it's unfair you can add that to the grievance.

In my experience, school leaders suddenly react when you formalise things - I know it's pretty scary but they want you to keep things unofficial.

If you can do a grievance, collective is even better, it will likely force them to be more professional as everything will now be officially recorded.

The other option is to try and negotiate an exit with a pay off and agreed reference?