Something tells me 2011 is not The Year of the Teacher.
After the disappointment of the New York Supreme Court ruling that teachers alleged to be underperforming can be named and shamed by the media, an unfortunate trend is becoming clear - teacher blame.
Teachers I am told, are the most bullied of all professionals. They are subjected to bullying from a variety of sources; their superiors, parents, colleagues, students and as we see from New York, the Government regulators. For a profession desperately looking for fresh, talented and passionate recruits, teachers have never had it so bad.
Today I read of the rise in bullying from parents through the use of social media such as Facebook.
The NAHT (National Association of Headteachers) says it receives hundreds of calls every week from teachers who are being ‘cyberbullied’ – and the majority of complaints are about parents using the web to criticise teachers or heads.
In 2009, research by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the Teacher Support Network suggested 15% of teachers had experienced cyberbullying, and it is believed this figure is growing.
One English teacher in the West Midlands told the ATL: ‘I found teaching stressful already but when it got to the point where I was getting home and finding messages about me on social networking sites, or horrible photos on my computer I couldn’t cope.’
The ATL says that one teacher had a fake Facebook account set up in his name containing false sexual allegations.
Another teacher suffered stress after a video of her teaching appeared on YouTube.
The 2009 ATL research showed that 63% of teachers who had suffered cyberbullying personally said they had received unwelcome emails. Over a quarter had had offensive messages posted about them on social networking sites such as Facebook and 28% described being sent unwelcome text messages.
A 24-hour counselling helpline called Teacherline set up in October 1999 for stressed teachers in England and Wales now receives thousands of calls a month.
Teacherline reports that teachers are four times more likely to experience stress at work than employees in other professions.
