{"id":194731,"date":"2023-12-01T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=194731"},"modified":"2023-11-30T23:02:08","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T23:02:08","slug":"schools-demand-national-campaign-against-abusive-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/schools-demand-national-campaign-against-abusive-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"Schools demand national campaign against abusive parents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A network of schools has demanded an NHS-style national campaign against abuse of staff by parents, as data shows reports of bad behaviour at the school gates has risen by more than a quarter since 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools North East<\/a> said its members faced an \u201cincrease in irrational, confrontational, unreasonable behaviour and expectations\u201d from parents and carers, leading to \u201crising vexatious complaints\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from Teacher Tapp shows the proportion of school staff who reported verbal abuse from parents or carers has risen from 28 per cent in 2020 to 36 per cent this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headteachers were more likely to report abuse (75 per cent) than other senior leaders (53 per cent) and classroom teachers (30 per cent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools North East described a \u201cseismic shift in attitudes\u201d during and since the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most interactions with parents were positive, there were small groups of parents \u201cwilling to be abusive towards school staff\u201d \u2013 including complaints straight to external government agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These bodies, such as Ofsted, the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency \u201cshould only get involved once the school has completed their complaints procedure\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSchools would like to see a campaign against abuse, to promote greater respect for the teaching profession.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One primary has had 69 complaints this term<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The network pointed to similar campaigns in the NHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the government announced the first NHS \u201cviolence reduction strategy\u201d, which NHS England followed up in 2021 with a new violence prevention and reduction standard. Many NHS trusts have also run their own campaigns and initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Zarraga, a director of Schools North East, said some parents held schools responsible for what happened outside classroom hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chris
Chris Zarraga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A survey of more than 200 schools found two thirds reported \u201cincreased challenges in relationships with parents\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne primary school has seen 69 complaints (including vexatious complaints) this term, compared with 102 for the entirety of the last academic year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofsted received 14,900 complaints about schools last academic year, almost a quarter more than the previous year. But less than 1 per cent led to follow-up inspections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some school leaders have resorted to pleading with parents to improve their behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter to parents this term, the Berkshire Association of Secondary Headteachers warned of an \u201cunfortunate increase in inappropriate, confrontational and aggressive communications directed at staff from some parents and carers, whether by email, over the phone or in person\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn some extreme cases, staff have even been verbally abused. Quite simply, such behaviour is not acceptable in any workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Head’s letter gets ‘overwhelmingly positive response’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, Christine Stansfield, the chief executive of Mowbray Education Trust, told parents she would lose talented staff if they did not stop \u201cpersonally abusive\u201d and \u201csometimes threatening\u201d communications<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stansfield said her letter had been \u201cmet with an overwhelmingly positive response and has since forged the path for a new and transparent way of working together\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polling of more than 3,000 school staff by YouGov for the charity Education Support found 31 per cent had witnessed and 45 per cent had experienced verbal abuse in 2022, while 48 per cent had seen and 44 per cent had experienced undermining behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even more worryingly, 18 per cent said they had seen and 10 per cent had experienced physical abuse from parents, while 8 per cent said they had witnessed and 4 per cent had experienced hate crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four per cent had seen and 2 per cent had experienced sexual abuse of staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Abuse is never the answer’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sin\u00e9ad Mc Brearty, the chief executive of Education Support, said that as a parent she understood how upsetting and frustrating it could be when things \u201caren\u2019t going well for your child at school\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sin\u00e9ad
Sin\u00e9ad Mc Brearty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut how we do that has a huge effect on teachers and school leaders and is contributing to the growing staffing crisis in schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAggression, abusive behaviour, undermining the school\u2019s authority \u2013 ultimately these approaches erode the strength of the school and reduce the quality of education for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jason Elsom, the chief executive of Parentkind, said there was \u201cnever an excuse for abusing school staff\u201d, who were \u201cover-stretched and under more pressure than ever before\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But parents were \u201calso feeling under pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cParents tell us they often don\u2019t feel listened to and are struggling to get the right support for issues like bullying, both online and at school\u2026 We can do more to build relationships between parents and teachers, but abuse is never the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DfE was approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than a third of school staff report receiving verbal abuse from parents<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":194719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[28,239,54],"post-theme":[2398],"class_list":["post-194731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dfe","tag-education-policy","tag-politics","post-theme-schools"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t