A recent survey has shown a high level of workplace abuse and bullying in the Victorian Education Department.

An internal survey reportedly obtained by a Fairfax Media outlet claims hundreds of teachers and other employees say they have been bullied or witnessed bullying at work.

In a questionnaire with over 1100 responses, overall job satisfaction was shown to be deteriorating – dropping from 72 per cent in 2009 to 65 per cent this year.

The results were reportedly aimed at Department management, encouraging bosses not to overlook their employees’ views on safety and harassment.

The forms of bullying cited ran the gamut of intimidating and destructive behaviour, including cases of verbal abuse, exclusion, isolation, psychological harassment, intimidation and deliberately withholding vital information.

Of the 1191 respondents, 38 per cent said they witnessed bullying in the past 12 months compared to 34 per cent in 2009. Similarly, 20 per cent reported experiencing bullying in 2013 compared with 15 per cent in 2009.

Only 2 per cent of total respondents submitted a formal complaint about bullying.

With teachers’ unions saying up to twenty per cent of staff have lost their jobs over the last few years, it may be understandable that stress on the remaining staff could be manifesting itself in the form of bullying.

Community and Public Sector Union representative Nick Church says the job cuts are; “leading to excessive workloads and stress among those still at [the department] as they are expected to often do two or three jobs. This will inevitably affect the delivery of education and early childhood services to Victorians.”

A Victorian Educaiton Department spokesperson said: “We were surprised by this result because it is not consistent with complaints or related OHS issues that you would normally associate with an organisation that had a poor workplace culture.”

“A major component of the People Strategy we have just released addresses how people work with each other and how they live and breathe our departmental values on a daily basis. It is our intention to reverse this result over the next two years,” he said.