One third of teachers abused online and face barrage of sick insults – from PARENTS

TEACHERS are facing an increased amount of abuse online from parents as well as pupils, new figures suggest.

Teachers are facing abuse outside of the classroomSTOCK POSED BY MODELS

Teachers are facing abuse outside of the classroom

School staff are facing sexist, racist and homophobic remarks, as well as offensive comments about their appearance, classroom skills and malicious slurs, according to the NASUWT.

In one case, a photo of a teacher was posted online with the word "b***h" underneath, while in another pupils used the name of a heavily-pregnant school worker to post insults, the teaching union said.

There have also been examples of parents hurling abuse through social media, including personal comments about teachers or their families.

The union said it had been told of a teacher receiving the comment "I hope she gets cancer", while the heavily-pregnant worker had faced remarks such as "ugly f*****g b***h" as well as having an account established in her name.

The NASUWT said the figures, released the day before the union meets for its annual conference in Cardiff, were "deeply worrying".

Overall, 60% of the almost 1,500 NASUWT members polled said they have had comments or information posted about them on social networks, related to their work as a teacher. This is up from 21% in 2014.

Of these, nearly half said these remarks were posted by pupils, 40% said they were put up by parents, and 12% said both parents and pupils were responsible.

The findings show that 62% said pupils had posted insulting comments, while just over a third said students had taken photos or videos without consent.

A third received remarks about their performance as a teacher, nine per cent had faced allegations from pupils about inappropriate behaviour and eight per cent had been subjected to threatening behaviour.

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: "It is deeply worrying to see that the abuse of teachers has risen by such a huge margin this year.

"Equally concerning is that it appears that more parents are the perpetrators of the abuse.

"The vile, insulting and personal comments are taking their toll on teachers' health and wellbeing and undermining their confidence to do their job."

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