Edinburgh schools: Teachers say it's not just pupils who are violent and abusive - parents behave badly too

Threats and intimidation by parents making working life untenable for teachers, says union

Teachers in Edinburgh have complained about the rise of unacceptable behaviour in schools, but it’s not just pupils – they say they suffer abuse, intimidation and even physical violence from parents too.

A survey by Scotland’s biggest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) found more than half of the city’s schools reported that unacceptable behaviour from parents/carers was getting worse, with 67 per cent saying that such incidents happened at least once a term, and 23 per cent saying they happened every week.

Some 76 per cent of schools reported intimidatory, obscene or derogatory verbal comments towards teachers, 41 per cent said there was physically intimidatory or aggressive behaviour, and 9 per cent reported instances of physical assault by parents or carers.

More than half of Edinburgh schools said the problem of violence and abuse from parents towards teachers was getting worse. Picture: Kenny Smith.

EIS Edinburgh secretary Alison Murphy said intimidation could often take the form of “a constant bombardment of abuse and threats online – not physical threats, but threats about raising complaints and getting the teacher sacked”.

She said: “They orchestrate online campaigns and yet often never do raise a formal complaint, so you have teachers who are genuinely worried for their jobs. It's just awful. Then parents will start making outrageous claims – ‘You hit my kid’, ‘you've abused them’ – which are career-ending allegations, but they are put online or shouted out in the playground but never raised properly so they don’t get to be investigated properly.”

She said parental WhatsApp groups allowed unfounded claims and rumours to be spread quickly, creating “a frenzy” and getting out of hand.

"Then you have people who email schools three four five times a day, sometimes on different things, and complain if they don’t get instant responses. Often if they're not happy they will end up copying in everyone and his mother, so maybe the kid's gym kit was lost, but the next thing is teachers are getting emails copying in the director of education, the council chef executive, three councillors and their MSP. That's not reasonable.”

Ms Murphy said it was often school heads and senior staff who bore the brunt of the abuse. “Education managers at the council must make it completely clear to all parents that they will not tolerate council staff being subject to such attacks, and to put in place robust measures to support staff, which might include helping them to contact the police, when it does occur.

"For some people their working lives are becoming untenable because the level of abuse or the level of threat and harassment means they cannot continue to work in that environment. We need some sort of code of conduct – and we need a reminder that we are as entitled to work without abuse as bus drivers, librarians and everyone else. When it's coming from adults it's particularly galling.

"We’re calling on the majority of parents and carers, who will undoubtedly agree that violent and aggressive attacks on teachers are completely unacceptable, to challenge such behaviour when they witness it. We would like parents to join staff in changing the culture in schools to one that ensures they are places of safety for everyone – pupils, staff and families.”

The council has been contacted for comment.

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