One in five school staff victims of false claims, survey shows
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Version 0 of 1. More than one in five school staff has had a false allegation made against them by a pupil, according to a survey. A further 7% have also faced untrue claims from a student’s parent or family member, the study by a teaching union found. The problem is so acute, some teachers said, that the fear of being falsely accused has become a primary reason for them to consider leaving the profession altogether. One experienced teacher told the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) that she felt vulnerable as pupils “twist things that are said”. One of the teachers surveyed said her husband was left a “broken man” after false allegations were made about him, while another cited poor parental discipline and the inability to “discipline children without a comeback” as significant problems. “The increasing occurrence of allegations is one reason why I will be leaving the profession sooner than I would like to. Poor parental discipline is leading to children always wanting their way,” said a Kent primary school teacher. “Unable to discipline children without a comeback has meant this sort of incident will escalate and very good teachers will be driven out when they are most needed.” And another teacher from the south-east of England said: “My late husband was falsely accused by a child he taught. Though the Crown Prosecution Service held that there was no case to answer, he was a broken man. “He returned to work briefly, but had lost his nerve. The false accusation of one child, who was in an abusive home situation, wrecked our family life. My husband died of a sudden heart attack in his 50s.” The ATL’s survey found that 22% of teachers said they had faced a false allegation made by a pupil and that 14.3% had faced claims by a pupil’s parent or other family member. More than a third of those polled (37.7%) said that someone in their current school or college had had an untrue allegation made against them by a student, with a further 22.6% saying a colleague had faced claims from a student’s relative. Of those that said they had faced an allegation at some point, 69.5% said the alleged incident was supposed to have taken place when they were working with a class or group of children, and nearly one in four (24.2%) said it was supposed to have taken place on school or college premises outside of class. The ATL said false allegations are blighting careers and putting added stress on to education workers. Asked what happened as a result of the most recent allegation they faced, around half of those who responded said that the claim had been dismissed, and 30.2% said they continued working while it was investigated. Only 5.7% said they had been suspended and 4.2% had been subject to disciplinary action. And a little more than 5% of those questioned said they had been referred to a local safeguarding children’s board over an allegation. In response to a separate question, 7.5% of the 187 people who responded said that the police had been notified of a claim against them. David Guiterman, ATL’s branch secretary in Cornwall, said: “Even if the allegation is shown to be false it leaves a lasting scar. In a local case, a member decided to resign, even though the allegation was shown to be false. He did not want to carry on lecturing.” ATL general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said that, while the welfare and safety of children must always come first, a balance was required, so that “teachers, heads and support staff do not suffer unnecessarily when false allegations are made against them”. She said: “Schools and colleges need to recognise that young people sometimes make up allegations - they may be angry, under stress, suffering problems at home or have a host of other reasons – and take this into account when investigating them. The survey questioned 685 members working in schools and colleges in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 19 February and 10 March this year. A Department for Education spokesman said: “We understand the variety of pressures teachers face, which is why through our plan for education we have taken a number of measures to support them. “We recognise the extreme damage which can be caused to teachers who have false allegations made against them, which is why we have made clear to schools and colleges that staff should be supported throughout, and are able to return to focusing their energies on teaching as swiftly as possible.” |