News / Society

British teachers face increasing online abuse

Thursday, 02 April 2015 5:14 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 02 April 2015 5:14 PM ]

UK teachers traumatized by online abuse

A top teaching union says cases of teachers facing online abuse and threats have trebled in a year.

Shockingly, the NASUWT says that abuse from both pupils and parents is to be blamed. Nearly half (48%) of teachers who have been abused via social media say the abuse has been by pupils, while 40% said they came from parents. A further 12% said abuse came from a combination of the two.

Some teachers have had photographs taken of them by pupils without their consent, who then posted them online writing derogatory messages underneath. The union also heard that one heavily pregnant teacher was told by a pupil they hoped she would “get cancer”.

There were also cases of teachers receiving sexually explicit messages by pupils.

Around 60% of the 1,500 teachers questioned in the survey conducted by NASUWT said they faced some form of abuse by either pupils or parents. This is a staggering comparison to last year’s survey, where only 21% of teachers claimed to have faced abuse.

The general secretary of NASUWT, Chris Keates, said, “it is deeply worrying to see the abuse of teachers has risen by such a huge margin. The vile, insulting and personal comments are taking their toll on teachers’ health and well-being, and undermining their confidence to do their job.”

The shocking extent of the abuse suffered by British teachers comes days after research conducted by another British union, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) found that one in five teachers have experienced false claims made against them, varying in seriousness.

Many teachers in the United Kingdom who face false claims or abuse by pupils have talked about leaving the profession all together. They feel they can no longer adequately teach the pupils in a secure environment or discipline those who misbehave without fear of a backlash.

One of the teachers surveyed as part of the study said “the increasing occurrence of allegations is one reason why I will be leaving the profession sooner than I would like to.”

LM/SKL

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