Parents and pupils abuse teachers on the web

Parents and pupils abuse teachers on the web

By John Simmons

When we hear the words ‘cyber bullying’, we would expect it to be a phenomenon that affects only teenagers, however it appears to be affecting more and more teachers.

Facebook, YouTube, ratemyteacher.com and other social network sites are the major places where pupils and parents are posting abusive remarks and even direct threats to teachers and school staff. A study by Plymouth University conducted in 2011 revealed that 35% of the 300+ teachers questioned had suffered some kind of abuse online, but perhaps the most shocking of the statistics is that 26% of the abuse is being initiated by parents.

This type of abuse is taking many forms, from abusive remarks and false accusations of inappropriate behaviour, to plain and simple physical threats. This is something that head teachers and even the Department of Education have never had to deal with until recent years and teachers are becoming more and more concerned as out-dated policies do not cover this type of behaviour.

The teachers union NASUWT highlighted the seriousness of this problem during its annual conference by revealing a survey showing that 4 in 10 teachers have suffered from on line abuse, describing these results “truly shocking”.

False allegations can do serious damage to careers but they can also ruin personal and family lives. Teachers are becoming more stressed and some continuous abuse has led to feelings of depression, anxiety and other mental ill-health.

Facebook is where most of the on line abuse takes place and they have said in their defence "while you can't report a conversation outside the school gates or easily stop a person sending abusive, anonymous emails, Facebook have worked hard to develop reporting mechanisms that enable people to report offensive content they are concerned about."

Despite all the good work being done by social network sites, local authorities and police, it seems a long way away until a proper solution and a serious crack down on on-line bullying, whomever it might be directed to, is found.