Unhappy at work? Surviving toxic school politics and moving on

Teaching; an underpaid job which crosses over with personal life. It’s just the nature of the job. What is the appeal? We as educators have something in us, however much we complain or threaten to leave, we are committed to crafting and delivering the best lessons possible for our students.

Teaching is not just about standing in front of a class. We are developing skills daily to improve our practice. Lesson planning takes years of trial and error to find the best way of sharing our subject knowledge and building our students’ confidence in the topic.

Heavy timetables, inadequate resources, parental pressure, micromanagement, deluded management and what feels like infinite administrative tasks are just some of the struggles we balance in the profession. Notice how I didn’t mention any student issues in that list, managing students’ is just an expected by product of the job.

There is an additional pressure prominent in most schools and often cited as a top reason for teachers leaving the profession; toxic school politics. As I was discussing with a very experienced colleague the other day, teaching, in my opinion, is one of the most unprofessional professions out there. We are qualified professionals yet constantly must prove ourselves, not only to our students but to our managers.

Lesson observations, a single lesson planned and prepared in advance, serves as the metric of measuring our ability as a teacher. If we do not perform in that one slot, our reputation is formed as a clumsy or unskilled teacher. All the other great lessons and challenges we overcome go unnoticed as the outdated lesson observation performance management criteria plunders on. If you dare to challenge lesson observation feedback, that could be the start of you being at the center of a toxic school environment.

My dear colleague, like myself, had fallen victim to toxic school politics. Loved by the students throughout our school, respected by colleagues, it was a genuine shame when my colleague announced his resignation. A tremendous loss to the school and Science department all due to falling on the wrong side of management. What got him caught up in the eye of the storm? Being outspoken? Suggesting valid, and potentially more effective ways of doing things? For challenging lesson observation feedback? I can confirm yes to all of this.

My colleague felt that however hard he worked, his efforts would continue to be under appreciated. So, he weighed up his options and submitted a few applications for other schools and secured a better pay package as well as a Head of Science leadership position He is an asset wherever he goes, and a tremendous loss for us.

My story

I went through a very rough patch in my teaching career. I arrived in Doha in 2021. Excited is an understatement. Years of planning had gone into this move and aside from finally landing the opportunity to live in a country that felt sketched out of my dreams, I wanted to enjoy the international teaching experience. I take my teaching very seriously. I can’t stand in front of a class haphazardly and unprepared. It feels like an unforgiveable disservice to my students and their parents who trust me as an educator.

Now a little secret about myself. Teaching was never my first choice. In fact, I looked down at teachers. I thought it was an absolute waste of time and couldn’t understand why anyone would want to work with little ones or even consider taking abuse from adolescents. I fell into the profession as a stepping-stone and didn’t initially enjoy it. I attempted to leave about 1 year into my career and prepared for my exit by applying as a long-term supply teacher in a school in the UK while I searched for something worth my time.

Now this is the bit of the story that counts. The school I applied to as a supply teacher talked me into a permanent contract, and I stayed there for 5 years. How did this happen? The management, the school atmosphere, the adults; it was possibly the best place I’ve worked in in my career. We were treated as professionals; we had autonomy and agency and above all, were treated with respect.

Everything else fell into place and for me, teaching felt manageable with a reasonable work life balance. The teaching itself came with the same challenges we know all too well, but the key to that school, and the longevity of the staff, was the environment the heads of school had created.  

I only left the school when I secured a new teaching position in Doha, Qatar. My UK school sent me off with the best of luck and even held a position as head of department for me when I was ready to come back to England upon completion of my 2-year contract in Doha.

I was naive following such a positive teaching experience in the UK. Couple that naivety with my first long-term experience abroad, the conditions were ideal for some unpleasant individuals in my new place of work to single me out and make my life difficult. Perhaps it was me, perhaps I was too sensitive or always in my head overthinking interactions at work. It was my first time abroad, looking back, I did make some mistakes and say things I probably shouldn’t have said. I don’t feel anything I did was worth the escalated toxic environment that ensued. I’d also like to add, I’ve never suffered such a high degree of paranoia in any place of work, so it couldn’t have all have been me.

I worked for 4 years in my first school in Doha, and it was possibly the hardest 4 years in my professional life. The issue itself is not important anymore. It’s done. I’m sure lots of people everywhere have gone through some turbulent times in their places of work.

The challenge is maintaining an unbothered façade when you may be genuinely really hurting on the inside. We spend a lot of time at work. Our lives depend on it, our financial stability and future. The last thing we need is childish bullying and animosity aimed at us by our colleagues. Sadly, it still happens though. The key to dealing with this is developing strategies to cope with toxicity while planning your exit. Do not cave-in and succumb to the pressure. Do not take sick days or engage in pointless conversations trying to give your side of the story hoping you will correct the toxicity. Bullying in the workplace usually takes form in a pack mentality, so conserve your energy and direct it at finding something better.

Here are 5 things I did at work to survive a toxic 4 years before moving onto a better school, with better leadership, better pay and better career prospects. I was tempted on many occasions to throw in the towel and run back to England, but that would have been a win for some. At the end of the day, I left strong with my head held high and upgraded myself. This was my win, on my terms, and you could see it on the opposition faces, they didn’t like it.

1. Become a lone wolf

Social media has become the bane of our lives. FOMO (fear of missing out) and YOLO (you only live once) seems to be the mantra these days.

Have you ever looked around and noticed the lone wolves in your school? They don’t mix unnecessarily; they tend to speak when spoken to. Men or women of few words, they tend to command respect whenever they enter the room. You can sense them from a mile away.

When I realized I was on the wrong side of my colleagues, I developed a new skill set, it wasn’t easy at first. I became a lone wolf. Not in a dramatic way. I just distanced myself from the individuals concerned. Professional conversations still took place, and when they happened, it was a masterclass in how to separate personal vendettas from professional conduct.

Becoming a lone wolf takes discipline. In my case, I withdrew from social events knowing that the troublesome individuals would be attending. This is not because I was scared to face them, I valued my time and peace and decided I could be doing something better elsewhere.

At work, my colleague’s isolation tactics continued to grow in the pursuit of breaking me down. I was denied a promotion at work. Well not denied, I was told to share a promotion with a fellow incompetent colleague. This means that I would do all the work and share my title with the incompetent buffoon who was widely known to be a messy overconfident fool in the department. The problem is, he had applied and been unsuccessful with so many prior promotions. To be fair, it was his time for a promotion, but he still couldn’t be trusted with the position by himself which is where I came in.

A naive fool, I accepted the position and ended up having some very heated conversations with the incompetent colleague in question and ended up dropping the promotion when I realized I had something better lined up. A tale for a different blog if you are still reading and interested.

Isolation took on a physical form as well, when I was moved out of the department into a classroom in a different building. Now working in a secondary school, especially the Science department, you need to work close to your team. Sharing the workload, managing behavior and the practical aspects of teaching Science require teamwork. Moving me to another classroom in a separate building was a clear message that I was being driven out of the department.

However, this is where the lone wolf mentality really kicked in. I took it in my stride, I flipped the narrative in my head and told myself, ‘I’m this good at my teaching that I can be trusted to plan, manage and deliver my classes without any interference.’ I was away from the office politics; I did not seek out validation and I learnt my worth. I did try to make amends on a few occasions but was quick to realize that this path was leading to a dead end. Becoming a lone wolf allowed me to block out the haters and get on with my work maintaining my peace and mental health.

2. Do not overshare

Once you’ve distanced yourself from the opposition, other colleagues, some who never even bothered to take the time to learn your name may start appearing to offer a listening ear.

Being a lone wolf comes with inevitable loneliness. We are social creatures. Even us introverts like good friends from time to time. Whilst forming a new social network in a toxic place of work is not a priority, it tends to happen organically.

Just remember that schools tend to be a hotbed of gossip. Think about it, everyone seems to know everyone’s business. If people come to you talking about others, it’s very likely they are also talking about you. If you are at the center of toxicity, there will be abundant rumors swirling about you around the school. How you react to these rumors has the potential to completely diffuse the situation or spur it on further. Try to remember that today’s gossip is forgotten within a matter of hours if you pay it no attention.

3. Keep a papertrail

The opposition is going to make it a priority to call you out when things go wrong. We all make mistakes. Your toxic colleagues will refuse to acknowledge your triumphs and highlight any mistakes you make. They may even go the extra mile and set you up to fail. Believe me, I’ve seen it and I’ve experienced it.

To be honest, keeping a paper trail in your work is good practice regardless of toxic atmosphere or not. Too many conversations take place in school between lessons or when pacing corridors. If it is a conversation of substance, something work related, make sure you email the person, summarizing the details of the conversation while it is fresh in your head. Make sure deadlines are agreed and documented, again via email.

If you are doing extra work with students during your break-time, lunchtime or afterschool, keep a paper register, date it and make a note of what you have covered with your students.

Time for a quick story, I got caught up in a bit of tricky spot at the end of this academic year when a year 11 exam paper went missing. This was quite an important paper as it was being used to predict IGCSE grades similar to the way we did it during COVID times.

I was responsible for marking this paper. However, at the time of marking, I noticed that this student’s paper was missing from the pile. Of course, I let my head of department know that the paper was missing to which I was told ‘don’t worry, lots of student papers are missing as some are not attending the exam sessions.’

For the first time in a while in my teaching career, I did not start a paper trail for this issue. I should’ve emailed my head of department summarizing our conversation. Nearly a month later, I had 2 members of the senior leadership team in my classroom checking through my draws and telling me very directly that I needed to find that paper. These individuals did not know I was responsible for marking this missing paper, where did they get this information from? My head of department who had kind of thrown me into the deep end and completely denied us discussing the missing paper in the first place. After some panic, I managed to locate the paper.

Turns out it had nothing to do with me; it was scooped up amongst a load of spare papers and was stored away. Even after the mishap was sorted, I was left feeling as if I had made the mistake. This could have all been avoided if I had simply evidenced the original conversation with my head of department. I would’ve never been implicated and would have been happy to help resolve the issue anyway.

4. Actively apply for jobs elsewhere

Do not fall into the trap of incessantly complaining about how much you are struggling at work. Stay bright and positive. You are basically putting on a full show for your colleagues and students, it will be exhausting.

Remember, students are very intuitive and they can read between the lines. In my case, when I was moved to a classroom in a different building, my students were quick to share their thoughts and ask me very directly ‘Miss, do they not like you or you do not like them? You are the only Science teacher in this building, all the rest are together.’

I was very frustrated at work for a very long time. I had tried to find a job elsewhere, but to be honest, it wasn’t until I had hit rock bottom and really needed a way out that I put the effort into my job search.

Job searching is tough; it takes a tremendous amount of effort. I also strongly advise against using AI to write your personal statements and previous job descriptions. AI is not hard to detect, even when you are just browsing online or doomscrolling on YouTube, you can probably tell when you are engaging with AI and it is boring.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of the new recruitment process in some of my previous leadership roles. Make sure your personal statement has your personal touch, share some stories of your success, admit to any shortcomings that you are aware of and discuss how you are actively working to improve them. In simple terms, be human with your job descriptions.

I think it’s also a good idea to apply for as many jobs as possible while you are searching. You may have your heart set on a particular school or maybe even a different role but remember you are in a toxic school environment. The longer you stay there, your professional development will suffer as well as your mental health and well-being.

By no means am I saying take the first job offer you get. Do not sell yourself short. Know your worth and apply above and beyond your capabilities. By submitting lots of applications at the peak of the academic year when schools are going crazy to recruit the best of the best, you may find your self an opportunity somewhere else with better prospects. Just visualize yourself out of your toxic workplace, this will keep you motivated to keep applying as it does get tiresome after 2 or 3 applications.

5. Leave politely and with your head held high

This is probably the most challenging part of leaving a toxic environment. Chances are you’ve had enough and cannot wait to see the back of your toxic school

My first instinct was to block and delete everyone in the school bar a few close ones. I then had the resounding urge to do some damage and leave a strongly worded review on Google for the institution, this is not me being over the top, quite a few disgruntled ex-staff members have fallen into this trap upon exit.

The reality is, you are a professional. However bad the experience is, you need to put it behind you and leave showing appreciation and respect for the institution and the opportunities it has granted you. The teaching world is a very small place, even smaller if you are teaching internationally where the community is in everyone’s business and continually crossing paths.

I remember the feeling when I secured a new job after 4 years of struggle in the workplace. I was elated, and as clichéd as it sounds, all my troubles dissipated. I just had peace of mind knowing I was going somewhere new and I felt better equipped with dealing with difficult colleagues. I’d made mistakes in my toxic environment; I’d let emotions get the better of me and I’d showed desperation in wanting to clear the air. For others, this was the bait that they needed to keep the toxicity going. In the end, I wrote a very positive letter of resignation to the big boss and personally visited my managers to tell them I was moving on. I didn’t wallow in the past, I wished everyone well and made my exit. Never have I ever left a place of work and not even been given a leaving card. It’s not because I needed one, it’s more the principle that after 4 years of dedicated service, from a professional perspective, I wasn’t worthy of having my departure acknowledged.  I’ve worked in institutions where people have been sacked for genuine misconduct and they have still been given a professional goodbye. It just looks better for everyone involved when things are closed off neatly.

Summary

Coping with toxic colleagues in the workplace can be very challenging. If you don’t show resilience and plan an exit, your mental health will be impacted. Life carries enough pressure without the bonus of being isolated and paranoid at work.

Presenting myself mindfully, avoiding oversharing and maintaining distance from the toxic elements allowed me to focus on my work. In the background, I was polishing up my job applications and actively applying for teaching positions across a range of institutions. Remember to tie up loose ends, be positive and thankful for the opportunities.

Surviving in a toxic workplace is horrible yes, but trust me when I say this, you will come out professionally stronger and with advanced skills to cope when challenging characters inevitably arrive in your new place of work.

Good luck surviving your work challenges, drop me a line and let me know how you are doing or if you need any help.