Pupils humiliate teachers on the net


25 April 2007 17:30

Norfolk's teachers are being humiliated and bullied by pupils on a popular social networking website.

An Evening News investigation has uncovered the alarming scale of cyberbullying in the county with shocking examples of teachers being mocked, abused and given cruel nicknames online.

In one case a headshot of a teacher was pasted onto a naked body and posted online.

The problem has got so bad education bosses are now planning a conference for teachers and parents on cyberbullying - and have already sent a memo to schools warning of online bullying.

Unions have called for a concerted effort to stop it, saying it is making life unbearable for some of Norfolk's already-stressed teachers.

The Evening News found several fake profiles of teachers in city schools on the Bebo social networking site, which is very popular with youngsters. This included teachers from the Hewett School and Sprowston High School.

They make derogatory comments about teachers' private lives, personal hygiene, teaching methods, size, ethnicity, sexual orientation and dress, using vile and abusive language.

Pupils add cruel, and sometimes racist, details and then encourage others to post vicious and offensive abuse about the individuals.

Tony Mulgrew, county secretary for the National Union of Teachers, today called for Norfolk County Council to give more guidance and support to schools about the problem.

He said: “I also think parents need to take responsibility on checking their children are not doing inappropriate things online, because they are doing this from home.

“It could be devastating to someone's career and make it very difficult to carry on working somewhere if this has happened.

“We need to be proactive on this because it's damaging the lives of staff and damaging the lives of other pupils as well.”

John Barnes, of the Norfolk branch of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said the worst case in Norfolk he had encountered was of pupils using cameras to take photographs of teachers and then doctoring them to make them embarrassing.

He said: “What we need to do is educate pupils to use this technology in a responsible way.”

North Walsham teacher Russell Hammond, who is a national executive member of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said: “It's very, very humiliating and totally unacceptable. Locally I think the concern is students putting profiles or information on about teachers which could be considered libellous,

“It's often inaccurate and can totally undermine the teacher's confidence to the point that they become ill.”

He said a national case had seen children creep up behind a teacher, pull his underpants down and film the incident to post on the web.

Anthony Little, a city councillor who is a teacher at Notre Dame High School, said: “I don't think we take this seriously enough and need much tougher punishments when children are found to be doing it.”

The county council said it passed information about Bebo to schools so that they could consider informing parents in early 2006. It already bans pupils from accessing the site whilst in school.

In a bulletin to schools it said: “Unfortunately it would appear that the website is being used for bullying, pornography, drugs references and other unsavoury activities.

“While the website is blocked from access on the Norfolk schools network we are obviously powerless to dictate what is viewed in the home. We would therefore like to advise schools that they make parents aware of this site and the dangers associated with it.”

A spokesman for Norfolk County Council said today: “If any school has an issue with malicious web pages that have been created, purporting to be from a member of their staff, they can contact ICT Solutions at the county council and we will assist them in trying to get the information removed from the site in question.”

It is planning a two-day seminar in autumn for teachers and school management to discuss the best ways to tackle e-safety and cyberbullying, as well as looking to hold a similar event for parents.

Hewett head teacher Tom Samain said: “Where we come across examples of Internet bullying we treat it like any other form of bullying and try to trace the source and deal with the person who initiated it.

“We have also in the past alerted providers of the relevant sites and drawn their attention to misuse.

“While teachers are grown up and realise they are never going to be the most popular people because of their jobs, it's particularly hurtful for young, vulnerable teenagers who are very unsure of themselves and just want to fit in.”

The council provides Internet filtering for both primary and secondary school computers, which blocks most social networking sites, as well as unsuitable words and terminology.

Schools also get the additional option of buying Securus, a software package which records inappropriate web content, and which recently helped North Walsham High School to intercept a paedophile's attempt to contact a 14-year-old female pupil.

Bebo said it was working hard to ensure its site was not abused and takes speedy action to suspend members, remove pages or freeze accounts.