Cyber bullies prey on 15% of teachers

Published on Saturday 21 February 2009 18:39

ONE in seven teachers has suffered abuse from pupils on the internet or via mobile phone, new figures reveal.

Scottish teachers have reported children writing sexually obscene comments about them on social networking sites, superimposing their faces onto pornography and posting videos of them on websites.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), a teachers' union, has accused the police of not taking such 'cyber crimes' seriously, and has called for offending children to be arrested.

The Teacher Support Network (TSN), a charity that runs a helpline for teachers and their families across the UK, has launched a survey into the extent of cyber bullying. Interim results show:

&#149 15% of teachers say they have been cyber bullied, while 20% say colleagues have been cyber bullied.

&#149 61% of those who were cyber bullied got offensive e-mails.

&#149 15% thought cyber bullying was not appropriately dealt with by the school, while 74% thought it was not properly dealt with by websites such as YouTube.

Patrick Nash, TSN chief executive, said: "It's a terrible thing to have critical, malicious things said about you in a text message or on a website.

"It can damage the mental and physical health of teachers and it's detrimental to the educational process. We know from our advisers that more and more people are suffering these problems, but these figures show how bad it is."

He accused websites such as Ratemyteachers.com, on which pupils can comment and grade their teachers, of encouraging the publication of offensive material.

In 2007, the EIS called on such sites to take more responsibility for what was published, in order to protect Scotland's 55,000 teachers. However, survey results suggest little has changed.

Helen – not her real name – a Scottish secondary teacher, was forced out of the profession last September after six months of bullying via mobile phone messages and sexually obscene comments about her on social networking sites.

She said: "Every time I went in front of my classes I didn't know who was involved. Every time someone giggled or made a comment I couldn't hear, it felt like they were attacking me.

"What scared me was the extent to which it was happening. Eventually, I took time off with stress. I couldn't face going back. This turned into a decision to leave the profession."

Drew Morrice, assistant general secretary of the EIS, said schools needed police back-up.

"Because these are cyber crimes sometimes local constabularies are not particularly clear in some of the legal aspects of what the crime is and how to pursue it. They put it down to childish pranks. The police have a responsibility to see teachers as victims and to bring the perpetrators to justice."

Liz Smith, Conservative spokeswoman for education, said: "If one or two cases were dealt with very severely it would send a message to youngsters. They might think twice if they thought they might end up in front of the police."

But Eleanor Coner of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council said that while cyber bullying was unacceptable, arresting pupils was "a step to far".

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said police would investigate complaints about offensive material on social networking sites and could charge people under the Communications Act 2003.