How bad is behaviour at the top of the house? Colloquially, it is the domain of the headteacher. The behaviour of some of the heads who manage their schools from that esteemed position is very bad, according to the president of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association. Ann Ballinger will tell the union's annual conference today that secondary school staff are routinely bullied by heads and their deputies. She estimates that bullying is found regularly in roughly one-fifth of local education authority areas.

Bullying at any level, in any organisation, is unacceptable. Most people would expect a zero-tolerance approach to be pursued, perhaps more rigorously than anywhere else, in a place of learning. Children can often be the subject of bullying. It can have a devastating impact on victims. Schools are the focus of anti-bullying campaigns for good reason. Such campaigns will be limited in impact if heads who lead by example do so in a way that embodies, rather than seeks to eradicate, bullying. It had been assumed that bullying in the workplace was on the wane. Ms Ballinger's remarks allege otherwise. If she has hard and fast evidence to support her assertions, she should make them available to local authorities as a matter of urgency. Even if it is anecdotal, it should be examined.

She says the management system in some schools comes down hard on teachers who question a decision and that the system is replicated in education authority directorates. As a consequence, there is little point in taking a matter further. Bodies representing heads and education directors challenged Ms Ballinger's claims and said there was no evidence to suggest bullying by senior school management was a problem on the scale suggested.

In the final analysis, it is the qualities possessed by a head that define a school. The best schools are led by dynamic heads who manage to get the best from their staff and pupils. Bullying at the top is a sign of bad management and should be rooted out. Firm leadership is crucial to the success of a school. The best heads take their staff with them. They do so by engaging with staff and involving them in the decisions that shape a school and its ethos. A culture of bullying is alien and counter-productive to that process.

If there is a bullying head, systems for monitoring performance, inspecting schools and delivering quality control should ensure that he or she is identified promptly and removed if that is shown to be the appropriate course of action. Teachers need to be encouraged to come forward if they have evidence of bullying. They also need to be confident that their representations will be properly investigated and that they will not find themselves in the line of fire for raising a legitimate grievance. Without question, bullying has no place in the playground, the classroom or senior management structures.