ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the perceptions of twelve middle-school principals from Manitoba, Canada, regarding incivility directed towards them from other adults including teachers, parents, and superintendents. The most common uncivil behaviours that the principals in this study experienced included an adult that: used an angry voice towards the principal, avoided the principal, talked down to the principal, and/or interrupted or cut the principal off while she or he was speaking. The adult perpetrators of incivility towards the principals, the words that the principals used to describe the encounters and the common motives for using incivility with the principals, are explored with a view to a discussion of the harm that these behaviours could provoke. Changes to language in collective agreements and policy are needed to address incivility as a “dark side” of behaviour in schools.
