More than four in five school leaders have suffered some form of abuse from parents in the past year, according to new research revealing how heads are facing threats, online abuse, discrimination and even violence.
A poll by the NAHT school leaders’ union, involving more than 1,600 members, reveals “appalling” examples of headteachers and other senior leaders being verbally and physical abused.
Nearly nine in 10 respondents said abuse from parents had increased in the past three years, with 37 per cent of those saying it had greatly increased. Only 1 per cent said abuse had decreased.
Verbal abuse was the most common form of abuse from parents, with 85 per cent of school leaders saying they had experienced this in the past year - while one in 10 had suffered physical violence.
Some 68 per cent of respondents reported threatening behaviour and 22 per cent reported discriminatory language,including the use of racist, sexist or homophobic terms.
School leaders face abuse from parents
The survey also exposed the trolling of school leaders on social media and in parent groups on Facebook and WhatsApp, as well as appalling instances of hate campaigns, harassment and intimidation.
Almost half of the respondents said they had faced online abuse.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said the findings underlined the importance of government treating the profession with respect.
“Too often teachers and leaders were publicly criticised and talked down to under previous administrations, sending completely the wrong signal,” he said.
MrWhiteman added that this kind of abusive behaviour is not tolerated in other sectors, and called for the government to send a clear message to parents that it is unacceptable in schools.
The NAHT also wants ministers to conduct an urgent review of complaints procedures to deter the “vexatious” use of the existing system by parents, which can involve complaints being lodged with multiple agencies - sometimes before school complaints processes have been exhausted.
The NAHT surveyed 1,642 school leaders across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in November last year.
More than four in 10 said that,in response to abusive behaviour,they had banned parents from the school site in the past year, and around a third said they had reported parents to police or the local authority. Some 80 per cent said they had arranged a meeting with parents, while 72 per cent had issued a warning letter or email.
Some leaders said in the survey that the abuse had made their lives a misery to the extent that they had considered quitting the profession. Some were left suffering anxiety, depression or panic attacks. More than a third said they typically experienced abuse from parents every month, with 16 per cent saying this happened on a weekly basis.
One senior leader told how “malicious and vexatious complaints made me want to leave my job and made me ill”.
Another, whose staff had to deal with repeated complaints that included nasty personal comments, said: “I felt very low and dreaded opening my emails…. Another member of the team said they might have to resign to avoid reading the emails.”
Mr Whiteman said the majority of parents are very supportive of schools and in most cases the relationship between school and home is really positive.
However, he said that in recent years NAHT members have highlighted a worrying increase in the amount of abuse.
“Some of the stories we are hearing about the appalling abuse leaders and their staff are suffering from parents are almost beyond belief,” Mr Whiteman said.
“It causes enormous distress for school leaders, their staff and sometimes pupils, and is even contributing to decisions by good people to leave the profession at a time when schools are facing a severe recruitment and retention crisis - directly affecting the quality of education that children receive.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Nobody should face violence or abuse in the workplace, including our incredible school staff who are vital to improving life chances for all children.”
They added that the government’s regional school improvement teams will work with schools to “spread the highest standards of behaviour” across classrooms.
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