Online abuse of teachers needs to be taken seriously - South Cumbria union executive

A survey by the NASUWT teachers' union showed that almost a third of teachers reported being abused through social media in the last year. It was not just pupils posting abuse, half of the teachers had received online insults from parents. Shockingly one in five teachers had received online threats from parents.

The study showed the platform most commonly used for online attacks was Facebook. There were insults about appearance and teaching, and threats and pupils taking pictures and videos of teachers without consent.

The NASUWT say the majority of UK schools have no guidance in place to support teachers despite clear issues with online abuse.

The union said even when abuse is reported, no follow up action was taken in almost half of the cases. One in three teachers felt it necessary to stop using personal social media accounts over privacy and abuse fears.

Examples given included parents threatening to kill or assault teachers and pupils making making inappropriate videos and photoshopping photos of teachers.

Chris Allen, a national executive for the NASUWT and a Furness teacher, said: "Online abuse is a problem for teachers everywhere, including Cumbria. Teachers seem to be an easy target, they are in the public eye. People say things online that they would not say to someone's face.

"When one in five teachers have said this abusive is in the form of a threat, we have to take this seriously.

"Quite often schools don't accept it is happening. Schools tend to take a different approach if something is said on social media. The fact it is said online should not make a difference."

Social media concerns were discussed during the recent NASUWT conference in Manchester. Other topics covered were the mental health of

teachers, workload, teachers’ pay and assessment, teacher recruitment and retention, the cost of education for families, children and young people’s mental health and the impact of Brexit on workers’ rights.