Naivity is not a crime. I could not condemn myself for not recognising a psychopath or two. I did know when something was up though, as I got that sick feeling in my stomach. Call it intuition. I experienced that sick gut feeling many times in those formidable years of 2005 - 2015. Inappropriate behaviour from three male teachers, that made my gut churn. The child protection code of a teacher was seen as my duty. The duty of care for students whose parents left these teens in our care, my care. Personalities of some other teachers, some very colourful and some dark - put their own agenda first. Ambition, ego, schoolgirl like behaviour from colleagues. Colleagues that had not matured into fully fledged professional women, neglectful of their duties asprofessionals. They saw me as a threat. A threat to what is something I still to this day question. Supportive colleagues say, these catty types were miserable, safe in their jobs after many decades, afraid of change. I bought with me it appeared, a worldliness, a breadth of work experience in other fields. To my supportive colleagues I bought an effervescence, fun and elements of joy to my role as a teacher. Others wanted to shut me down. Drain me of the joy they themselves may have lacked in their lives.
Time away from these experiences have yielded much clarity. Clarity about my part and of others who wanted me out of the picture.
Whilst fighting the fight for those years, I had never witnessed such debauchery and abuse of power in my working life. These were officers of a government department.The battle to grip tightly to my profession was one that saw me nearly lose my own life. This is my story.