Very little has been written in the scientific literature about the phenomenon of upwards bullying, i.e. bullying by subordinates against superiors. In my research, I investigated whether upwards bullying is present and how it manifests itself in Slovenian primary and secondary school head teachers. I used a mixed methods research, combining a quantitative and a qualitative approach. In the first part of the study, the participating head teachers (N = 129) completed the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ-R) and self-assessment of upwards bullying. In the second part of the study, I conducted semi-structured interviews (N = 9) in which I asked head teachers about their experiences of upwards bullying. The results showed that 20 % of the head teachers experience negative behaviours from their subordinates on a weekly or daily basis, and 5 % of the head teachers also rated themselves as victims of workplace bullying on the questionnaire. Such results argue in favour of further research on upwards bullying. Subordinates use specific forms of power (coercive power and structural power) to bully their superiors. Head teachers ranked organisational change, employees with difficult personalities and comparisons with other employees as factors in the occurrence of bullying. The negative personal and psychological consequences of upwards bullying for head teachers are similar to those of other victims of bullying, but additionally head teachers highlighted the positive consequence of personal growth. Head teachers use both appropriate active and passive coping strategies when dealing with upwards bullying. I propose a model of exploring upwards bullying in Slovenian head teachers that can serve as a theoretical basis for further research on upwards bullying in other leadership profiles.
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