Abstract:

This research aims to examine the mobbing faced by preschool teachers. The mobbing phenomenon, which is the subject of the study, was handled according to the phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research designs. The research study group consists of eleven preschool teachers working in kindergartens. A semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used to collect data. Content analysis technique was used in the analysis of the data. With the analysis of the interviews, codes emerged in the themes of meaning and characteristics of mobbing, effects of mobbing, reactions to mobbing, and suggestions for preventing mobbing for preschool teachers. The interviewees thought that mobbing is a kind of pressure, and deliberate exclusion. Participants have been exposed to discursive and operational intimidation from parents, school administrators, and colleagues. Although mobbing behavior is primarily observed in the first years of the profession, some are exposed to mobbing in the following years. There are reasons of mobbing offenders originated from personal characteristics as well as organizational management. Exposure to mobbing has affected teachers' health and well-being, as well as working life. It has been determined that self-defense, withdrawal, taking legal action, reporting to senior management, and dropping out of school are among the methods of coping with mobbing. This process affected the teachers psychologically, emotionally and socially. To prevent mobbing; a democratic school culture should be built at schools, the roles of preschool teachers should be clarified, and studies should be carried out to understand the importance of preschool education in society.

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