System must do more to protect teachers from social media slurs

For too long, parents’ unfounded accusations against teachers have been shrugged off. But if the sector – and the government – are serious about staff wellbeing, more robust processes are needed, says this MAT leader

5th July 2022, 7:00am

Nick Hurn

System must do more to protect teachers from social media slurs

To begin with, it’s important to state that, of course, I appreciate and accept that disputes involving someone’s child and their school can become fraught and emotive.

But as we increasingly see parents take to social media to vent their frustrations - sometimes making outrageous, defamatory and hurtful comments about teachers - action needs to be taken.

In one case, a member of staff in a school in our region was dubbed a paedophile online by one parent - a repugnant slur on anyone, let alone a teacher. Sadly, and very disappointingly in this case, the police and the media company responsible for providing the parent with a platform refused to act in defence of the teacher.

Instead, our multi-academy trust (MAT) had to employ a legal firm to act on the individual’s behalf to ensure that the post was removed - but this happened only after the disgraceful slur had been online for two weeks.

Devastating for wellbeing

In another incident, teachers were named in an online petition that made a number of comments designed to destroy their character, integrity and professionalism.

What’s more, staff at schools within my trust have been sworn at, spat on, threatened and, in some cases, physically attacked. Yet the individuals affected are expected to just suck it up and turn the other cheek, while they and their families grow fearful and anxious about their situation.

The growing number of people who believe they can write, post or say whatever they like, about whoever they like, when they don’t get what they want or are told “no” by a school, is unacceptable.

The whole system seems to be weighted in favour of the parent - that they are right and must be believed, even if there is no proof that substantiates their claims.

Staff continue to be vilified, insulted and hounded by obnoxious individuals just for trying to do their jobs.

What will it take before the authorities start to realise that they have a duty to protect their public servants, who are also citizens with the same rights as anyone else?

Already, we see that teachers are leaving their posts in large numbers, staff wellbeing and mental health issues are on the rise and headteacher and deputy head posts are becoming increasingly difficult to fill. Is it any wonder?

What we could do

I suggest that the following actions should be considered:

The whole complaints system should be reviewed, modified and based on evidence. All complainants should be required to follow a published complaints procedure. Unsubstantiated complaints, where there is no evidence, should not be required to be investigated. No complainant should be allowed to bypass the system.
External agencies, such as Ofsted, the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency should get involved only when the school has completed its complaints procedure. They should act only if the complainant has the evidence to substantiate their complaint. All too often, these agencies demand an inordinate amount of paperwork, investigations and time from schools based on vexatious complaints that are false.
Legislation should be introduced that will allow public servants to prosecute social media companies and individuals who fail to remove, stop or block abusive, slanderous or false posts about them.
Pursuing an individual or a media company through the civil courts for their offences should not be the responsibility of the staff member. A publicly funded body should be set up to prosecute these cases on their behalf. Alternatively, money could be set aside, as it is in other sectors. For example, in the NHS, there is a pot of money for malpractice claims - there should be a similar fund for schools to access to finance prosecutions.
The police should be made to take swift and decisive action against any individual or group that writes or posts defamatory or malicious comments about a member of staff. There should be legal recourse to hold the police to account as we feel, sometimes, that our teachers are being ignored when we try to get the police involved.
A nationally backed parent/carer code of conduct should be introduced that all parents/carers should be required to sign and adhere to from their child’s first day at school.