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NEWS • VIEWS • INFORMATION • ADVICE





Social media abuse



Teachers are being routinely subjected to vile accusations and abuse, including death threats, from students and parents abusing social media, a survey of over 1,500 NASUWT members found.



Teachers have been issued with death threats, accused of crimes such as paedophilia and rape, have been subject to sexist and racist abuse and have had their pictures distributed across the internet.



Of those responding to the online survey, 42% said they have had an insulting comment, allegation of inappropriate behaviour with a pupil, comment on their performance or other abusive allegation posted online or on a social networking site.



The vast majority (60%) of pupils engaged in cyberbullying of their teachers were between 11 and 16 years old, but some were primary school pupils. The survey found the problem is not confined to students, with 16% of teachers reporting parents were also using social networking to post comments about teachers.



Although 64% of teachers reported the incidents, many also felt they were not supported properly or the complaint was not taken seriously enough. Almost half (46%) of teachers who reported the abuse either felt that the sanction taken against the pupil was inadequate or said that no action was taken at all. Less than a third of teachers felt the appropriate action was taken.



Members reported a similar lack of action to tackle abuse from parents. Almost half (49%) of those teachers who had comments about them posted online by parents either did not feel that the response by their school was adequate or reported that no action was taken. Only 29% felt that appropriate action was taken.



It is clear from the survey that schools are still failing to take the issue of cyberbullying of teachers seriously. The majority of teachers (70%) either do not have or are not aware of policies and procedures within their school to protect them against such incidents.



Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said the scale of abuse uncovered by the survey highlighted the need for urgent action to protect teachers.



She said: “Some of the findings in this survey are truly shocking.



“Yet there are no adequate procedures in place locally or nationally to protect teachers.



“It is clear that some employers are seriously failing in their duty of care by neither having appropriate policies in place nor taking incidents seriously when reported.”



However, the greater fault lies with the Coalition Government, Ms Keates stated, warning that their decision to slash guidance for schools on tackling cyberbullying is leaving teachers vulnerable. This guidance was the result of a sustained campaign by the NASUWT which has led the way in highlighting the issue of cyberbullying against teachers.



“Until this Coalition took office, there was comprehensive guidance in place nationally, providing details of teachers’ legal rights and entitlements and a suite of good practice for schools to use to protect teachers and pupils from this kind of abuse.



“This has now been reduced to just one paragraph on cyberbullying, sacrificed on the altar of this Coalition’s flawed and distorted so-called policy of reducing bureaucracy and demonstrating its lack of concern for the wellbeing of staff.



“Until the Government and teachers’ employers recognise that the welfare of the workforce is important and these issues must be tackled seriously, this unacceptable abuse will not only continue but is likely to escalate.”



"Although 64% of teachers reported the incidents, many felt they were not supported properly…"



"The decision to slash guidance for schools on tackling cyberbullying is leaving teachers vulnerable…"



Facebook was the most commonly used website to post abuse about teachers – 77% of incidents involved the site. Twenty-one per cent of incidents involved RateMyTeachers.com, 6% Twitter and 1% MySpace.