TITLE:
Teachers’ and Social Pedagogues’ Experiences with Bullying Behavior and Work-Related Psychosocial Factors
AUTHORS:
Minni Aia-Utsal, Kristi Kõiv
KEYWORDS:
Teachers, Social Pedagogues, Personal History of Bullying Behavior, Work-Related Psychosocial Factors, Interpersonal Relations, Leadership
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.9,
September
22,
2026
ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to describe and compare teachers’ and social pedagogues’ experiences with bullying behavior and their perceptions of work-related psychosocial factors, such as interpersonal relations and leadership. The sample of quantitative descriptive research was composed of Estonian teachers (n = 441) and social pedagogues (n = 171), whose personal history of bullying behavior was assessed via a self-reported questionnaire. The perceptions of the psychosocial work environment were measured using eight items from the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ II) short version. Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis uncovered a four-factor model focusing on interpersonal relations and leadership on four scales: predictability, role clarity, quality of leadership, and social support from supervisors. The findings demonstrated that both teachers and social pedagogues with a history of victimization—both during their school years and in their current professional lives—reported significantly lower levels of predictability, role clarity, quality of leadership, and social support compared to colleagues with no history of bullying behavior. These results highlight that teachers’ and social pedagogues’ victimization experiences in school and the workplace seem to have a long-lasting effect on how they perceive interpersonal relations and leadership at their workplace. The study suggests that past and present experiences of victimization have negative effects on the perceived quality of interpersonal relations and leadership in the workplace among teachers and social pedagogues, emphasizing the need for targeted support for employees with victimization histories.