Teachers forced to cover up sexual harassment at elite private boys’ schools

Female teachers being sexually harassed by students in private boys’ schools are being forced to brush off the shocking behaviour.

Teachers at elite private boys’ schools are vulnerable to sexual harassment, a new study has found.

Female teachers in elite private boys’ schools are being forced to cover up sexual harassment from students, a new study reveals.

A Monash University study, which interviewed 32 female teachers from three elite private boys’ schools in Australia, revealed teachers reported that criticising students for their bad behaviour was discouraged as they needed to keep parents “on side”.

Some teachers who also had to reprimand students for derogatory sexual jokes and behaviour were subsequently called to a meeting with a supervisor.

The researchers said this behaviour raised the question of whether boys were “mobilising parents-school relations to act as a cover for sexual harassment”.

The study also found sexual harassment went beyond the reach of the school grounds and was often experienced online, including Facebook and forums.

Female teachers also experienced disbelief and denial from other colleagues and some early-career teachers even reported self-blame when an incident took place.

The study authors said: “If elite private schools are run like ‘businesses’ and ‘bad news’ can spread, then it stands to reason that market pressures might lead administrators to play down or “disappear” sexual harassment before these incidents come to parents’ attention.”

Teachers have reported that criticising students for their bad behaviour was discouraged.

Monash University Lead researcher, Dr George Variyan, said it was important to understand that the female teachers’ accounts of sexual harassment could not be removed from the broader cultural, social, political and economic contrasts that influenced these schools.

“Our findings illuminate how sexual harassment in elite private boys’ schools is to an extent based around historic, cultural and site-specific aspects, however, they are also influenced by modern educational policies,” Dr Variyan said.

“This evidence suggests that the current policy settings, that encourages transactional relationships and market sensitivities for schools, is likely motivating the erasure of gender oppression in elite private boys’ schools. These research findings raise both ethical and political questions that demand a broader overview of both practice and policy.”

Monash University Professor Jane Wilkinson said: “These conclusions have significant implications for school leaders and policymakers, because both practices and policy-settings are arguably complicit in the ongoing production of gender oppression”.

“At the very minimum, it merits broader transparency around teachers’ experiences in these schools,” Prof Wilkinson said.

“This ecology of discourses and practices, if not understood and tackled radically will likely only continue and see female teachers continue to experience sexual harassment in the workplace.”

Originally published as Teachers forced to cover up sexual harassment at elite private boys’ schools