STRUCTURING OF TERROR: WHEN THE EDUCATOR BECOMES A VICTIM AND MANAGEMENT, AN ACCOMPLICE IN INSTITUTIONAL SILENCE

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the serious and increasing incidence of workplace harassment, or bullying, in the school work environment, specifically in the relationships between teachers (horizontal harassment) and in the acts of omission or connivance by school management. It is argued that this phenomenon undermines the mental health of educators, compromises the organizational climate, and violates the institution's ethical duty to ensure a healthy work environment. The methodology employed is qualitative in nature, utilizing a descriptive-analytical approach and triangulation (accounts, theory, and legal frameworks), based on specialized literature on workplace harassment (mobbing) and institutional responsibility. Furthermore, ten case accounts of real situations and characters with fictitious names are used to illustrate and deepen the analysis. The study evidences how the absence of intervention from the leadership transforms the harassment into an undeclared institutional policy, culminating in the “Structuring of Terror” and concludes by stressing the urgent need for legal accountability and external intervention.