One-third of teachers are abused online by parents

ALMOST a third of teachers have suffered online bullying at the hands of parents in the last year, a survey suggests.

Families are using social media to post obscenities, threats, offensive photos, sexually explicit insults and even covert films of teachers.

Around 30 per cent of teachers said they had been the subject of parents’ abusive internet posts. And the poll found that bullying by parents is on the rise, accounting for 40 per cent of all reported online insults this year compared to just 27 per cent last year.

The survey, by teachers’ union NASUWT, reveals a disturbing picture of how parents are increasingly using Facebook and Twitter to intimidate staff.

One teacher said they had been sworn at by a parent online over a PE lesson, while a female dance teacher said she had been called a ‘paedophile’ for wanting to film a performance.

Others said they had received insults from parents about their appearance and weight, with one told she was ugly and her ‘husband could do better than her’.

Of those harassed online by parents, 15 per cent had threats made against them, compared to 7 per cent in 2014. Around 8 per cent saw allegations of inappropriate behaviour with students, 6 per cent saw videos or photos taken without consent and 3 per cent were told they had behaved inappropriately towards parents.

The poll of 1,500 teachers also showed that the proportion of teachers suffering abuse from both parents and pupils has more than doubled over the past year – increasing from 21 per cent to 60 per cent.

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: ‘It is deeply worrying to see that the abuse of teachers has risen by such a huge margin this year. Equally concerning is that it appears that more parents are the perpetrators of the abuse.’

He added: ‘The vile, insulting and personal comments are taking their toll on teachers’ health and wellbeing and undermining their confidence to do their job.’

The survey found that many teachers had received racist, sexist and

‘Undermining their confidence’

homophobic remarks online – with one teacher called a ‘wog’ by a pupil and others called ‘lesbian’ and ‘slut’. And teachers said that 60 per cent of the abusive comments online had been written by pupils.

Over half of the pupils responsible for abuse were aged between 14 and 16, while 38 per cent were aged between 11 and 14, the teachers’ poll found. One teacher received the comment ‘I hope she gets cancer’, while a heavily pregnant worker was sworn at, called ‘fat whore’ and ‘ugly’.

Another said they had been harassed for seven months by pupils who sent sexually explicit messages and set up a fake social media account in their name.

A number of teachers reported pupils had used their identity to set up bogus Facebook profiles and post sexually inappropriate messages.

One man only found out months afterwards and feared it could be used to ‘smear him’ and destroy his career. Just under a third of bullied teachers did not report the incidents to their school or to police.

Mrs Keates went on to say: ‘While there has been some improvement in action taken on reported abuse, there are still too many cases where no appropriate action is taken and teachers are being left devastated, humiliated and traumatised.’

The union called for the next government to require schools to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to online abuse and use all sanctions available to address any bullying of staff.