There is disturbing news of teachers’ online abuse by both pupils and parents, showing that the level has spiraled out of control.
More than half of teachers surveyed by NASUWT (National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers) said they had been abused online by pupils (55 percent) and parents (52 percent), mostly via Facebook.
They began surveying in 2014, and last year’s results showed that the number of teachers facing racist, sexist and other abuse on social media had more than doubled in one year.
Buzzfeed just reported excerpts from this year’s survey, with samples of grave threats of sexual and physical violence. The teachers left their examples, which also included allegations of pedophilia, and homophobic abuse, anonymously. Here are some of the outrageous samples:
“I told a child off for swearing in school. That night on Facebook I was called a ‘f*cking little lesbian c*nt’ and that the boy involved was going to knock me out the next day in school.”
“Photographs taken from the school website were Photoshopped to make me look like ‘Jihadi John’.”
“Told daughter off at school, mum put on Facebook that she was going to come to school to punch me.”
One third of the teachers who received abuse online said they did not report it to anyone, the majority because they did not think anything could be done.
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates felt no serious action is taken by government to ensure that schools are responding appropriately to this abuse.
“The level of abuse that teachers are suffering at the hands of parents online is simply unacceptable. How can pupils be expected to use social media sensibly and safely when parents are using it inappropriately?”
The Department for Education told BuzzFeed News that teachers and pupils have a right to feel safe online:
“No teacher should be subjected to abuse or threatened online… We would urge them to report it to the relevant authority so the appropriate action can be taken.”
Yes, this is unacceptable. No teacher devoting his or her life to give the tools of knowledge to the next generation should have to be abused in return.
Featured image by Tumisu on Pixabay, available under public domain.
