They did make love to this employment

The over-used and rather damaging adage 'Those who can, do and those who can't - teach' is rarely heard these days, at a time when most know teaching has become one of the higher stress occupations of the last two decades. However, some things are true about schools, and they can have consequences.

Teachers who move from school to university and back to school never really leave the teaching environment, and this can have a damaging effect on overall maturity.   Teaching is not - despite what some might think - a collegiate activity, in which colleagues unreservedly support each other against the trials and tribulations of the world. On the contrary, the danger of such a career cycle is that some teachers have no concept of what life in the outside world is like, and live their entire lives assuming the world is a classroom.

So you have to feel a little for former St David’s RC Primary School teacher Catherine Anne Dean who has had her registration  suspended for a year for "shouting, screaming, and on more than one occasion crying in front of pupils." That there's a little more to the story, however, appears when it's revealed that "The local priest resigned because of the headteacher Mrs Chris Pilling's behaviour and an alternative priest refused to join the governing body."

The lack of congeniality is further demonstrated when a current St David's teacher Carol Peover, giving evidence on behalf of Mrs Dean, said teachers had formed a jealous clique against the new arrival. She said:

"I can only suppose that many of the teachers were a bit jealous of her. She came to the school with a management point that they didn't have."

Evidence from governors and the clergy suggested that The Head teacher had bullied Mrs Dean, and some of the staff had treated her badly. Mrs Dean, meanwhile,  currently works in an international school in Cairo, Egypt, where that headteacher has praised her professionalism and sensitivity.

It's sad, but bullying in schools is on the rise, although not among the kids. Those to whom the children look for their examples are often the worst perpetrators of bullying and intimidation.  Perhaps it's time to force potential teachers to work outside of the education system for at least three years, before committing to working in what is - at best - an artificial environment, often plagued by jealousy, vindictiveness and aggression.