Parents using social media to send DEATH threats to teachers

Teachers are facing more aggressive behaviour from parents and the use of social media is making the problem worse, a survey revealed.
Three out of four teachers complained that parents’ behaviour towards them had deteriorated in the last five years and the situation is worse in primary schools.
A YouGov survey of primary and secondary school staff for the TES magazine, ranging from classroom teachers to headteachers, found that only 2% believed parents’ behaviour had improved since 2010.
Some 25% said there had been no change at all in the way parents behaved and 73% insisted that parental behaviour had worsened.
The poll of 796 teachers in England and Wales, found that parental behaviour is worse in primaries than secondaries.
Among primary teachers, nearly eight out of ten (78%) said that parents’ behaviour had deteriorated, compared with 67% of their colleagues in secondary schools.
Teachers said that parents’ use of social media was making the problem worse. A pastoral leader at a Cumbrian secondary school, said that she regularly received angry messages online.
“They write it all down and ping it off at one minute past midnight, as aggressive as you like,” she said. “I’ve had a parent say, ‘I’m going to go to the press. I’ll go to the governors. I’ll bring the school to its knees.’ ”

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Chris Keates: She said teachers had received death threats over social media

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said: “Primary parents have traditionally expected greater access to teachers than their secondary counterparts.
“Primary school teachers are particularly vulnerable to verbal abuse, because often parents are picking up children from school. But secondary teachers also find themselves being verbally abused in meetings with parents.”
Ms Keates said that a number of NASUWT members had reported receiving death threats or threats of physical violence over -social media. “We’ve had a teacher going on maternity leave and parents posting comments like, ‘How selfish is this, going off and leaving my child without a teacher?’,” she said.
Parents’ comments also included references to teachers’ appearance, weight and sexuality, as well as their teaching ability.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of the NAHT head teachers’ union, said: “The government’s emphasis on market-driven solutions has created an impression that the customer is always right in education. Instead of encouraging parents to respect the authority of headteachers, it’s done the opposite.”