As a teacher, the feeling is that if you can't control things you shouldn't be in the classroom. A female colleague corroborates this, and more. She didn't miscarry, luckily, and the culprit couldn't be identified - although everyone knew who it was. Nothing was done. A lot of teachers live quite dreadful lives.
Teachers recognise the complexity of the causes of bullying.
So does clinical psychologist Marie Murray, who has a long experience of working with adolescent family services. A teacher may, on the other hand, be too harsh, punitive or critical, or may simply fall foul of parents who have a negative attitude towards teachers and school. Too often, female teachers are afraid of being seen as complaining if they protest, and male teachers of appearing weak. Murray says that teachers are often unsure whether bullying is a psychiatric or psychological problem, a medical or educational one, whether it's legal, social or to do with discipline or parenting. It should define and detail all likely events and the consequences of those events - and should be signed up to by parents, pupils and teachers.