Targeting teachers

ONLINE BULLYING: British teachers say they are experiencing increasing levels of online bullying from pupils and parents. Pupils are setting up “hate networks” on social networking sites and posting videos of their classroom teachers on YouTube.

The trend, known as “cyberbullying”, is the subject of a new survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL). The association, which presented its findings at its annual conference in Manchester, said that almost half of ATL members know a colleague who has been a victim of cyberbullying.

One British teacher was called into his head teacher’s office and informed that a Facebook page in his name gave his interests as “underage sex with both boys and girls”. The page was removed after the teacher told pupils that police were investigating.

ATL delegate Nick Clayton told the annual meeting that “sinister” groups on Facebook and Bebo were “aggressively calling for the heads of perfectly competent, yet firm, teachers”. Clayton added: “If Ofsted [the government school inspection service] can give you goosebumps, a Facebook critique can bring you to tears as a teacher.”

Nick Clayton"A Facebook critique can bring you to tears as a teacher." 

The ATL’s general secretary, Mary Bousted, said that incidents of cyberbullying have caused extreme stress for the teachers involved. “Bullying is no less serious whether it is done face-to-face or via a social networking site,” Bousted commented. “Schools and colleges need to have clear policies to deal with it, and make sure that pupils will face appropriate punishment if they engage in any form of bullying — cyber or otherwise.”

A spokeswoman for Facebook told The Guardian that the social networking site disables any accounts that are seen to violate its rules on bullying. “Facebook is highly self-regulating, and we encourage users to report questionable or offensive content,” she said. “Facebook takes all complaints by users seriously and we have a dedicated team investigating these complaints.”