A rise in teachers copping online abuse from students

There is an alarming rise in students and parents using anonymous online accounts to abuse teachers and make false allegations.

President of the Australian Primary Principles Association Malcolm Stewart told Neil Mitchell he has been a victim of this abuse.

“It made me feel sad, misunderstood, made me feel attacked with any recourse to putting this kind of thing right,” he said.

“It is having a deep effect in the world of teaching.

“People have been using anonymous online accounts to accuse teachers and school teachers of paedophilia, physical abuse towards students, you name it.

“There is a range of things you can do and one of them is seek the provider to take it down, it takes time but at a personal level it is a matter of … ignoring it.

“The problem with ignoring it is it sits there online so other people can see so it becomes deeply concerning.”

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