Teachers' union calls for crackdown on verbal abuse
10-11-2006
Teachers' working lives are being ruined by constant verbal abuse from pupils, a teaching organisation has claimed.
The largest union representing teachers and headteachers in the UK, the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), said that pupils were constantly challenging teachers' authority, refusing to obey school rules, making offensive remarks and swearing, and that this was having a considerable effect on teachers' lives.
Backed by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), NASUWT is calling for a national register of physical and verbal assaults on workers to be created.
The subject is to be discussed at a regional conference for the organisation in the north-west of England this weekend.
NASUWT national executive member for the area John Rimmer said that verbal abuse was one of the most common reasons for teachers to leave their jobs.
He said: "Governing bodies have a legal duty to ensure the safety of employees in the workplace and to report criminal acts that take place at the school to the police... Zero tolerance to verbal abuse and threatening behaviour is the only way forward."
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