Teachers are used to outbreaks of rudeness and defiance from their pupils, but now say parents are some of the worst offenders and affecting staff’s mental health, according to a headteacher’s union.
More than 90% of headteachers and other senior managers said they had been victims of “challenging behaviour” from parents, including rude or disrespectful responses, while 60% had suffered verbal abuse and threats in the last 12 months, according to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).
More than three-quarters of respondents said worsening parental behavior was damaging their mental health and wellbeing.
School leaders said parents were now more likely to disagree with the school’s handling of incidents and would often dispute sanctions such as detentions or suspensions for misbehavior or truancy.
Jo Rowley, deputy headteacher at Stafford and president of the ASCL, wants the government to back a national campaign urging parents to support their child’s school or college.
Rowley is expected to tell the ASCL national conference in Liverpool that “a minority of parents with unreasonable expectations and short tempers consume time, energy and resources.”
While most parents “work productively” with teachers, she will stress the importance of parents raising complaints “in a polite and reasonable manner” to avoid conflict.
“Some parents are clearly struggling to deal with the pressures in their own lives, and their behavior is very challenging,” Rowley will tell the conferences. “The enormous amount of work and stress they generate harms other children, undermines behavior policies and contributes to the pressures that drive people out of teaching.”
Experienced principals said flashpoints included the confiscation of pupils’ mobile phones, and one parent accusing the school of theft and threatening to call the police. Other bitter disputes can arise when rejecting requests for pupils to take time off for family holidays during term time.
More recently, bosses said parents had been using AI to generate lengthy legalistic complaints that required increasing amounts of time to administer.
Of the 1,700 school leaders surveyed by ASCL, 73% said subject access requests (legal demands for personal data held by an institution) were being used by parents “in a defiant or excessive manner”, while more than half said they had experienced hostile or defamatory comments from parents on social media.
Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s chief inspector, will also defend his organisation’s new inspection regime at the conference, explaining that more and more schools in England are receiving “in need of care” ratings due to Ofsted’s “more demanding” standards. ‘Requires attention’ is the fourth lowest of five on Ofsted’s new scale, which ranges from ‘exceptional’ to ‘urgent improvement’.
Oliver means Ofsted will continue to highlight schools where it finds disadvantaged children “who are not making the progress they should”. “We will never accept the silent curse of low expectations that would cause Ofsted to prioritize context over outcomes for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children.”
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is expected to tell delegates: “The changes you have seen in your classrooms over the last decade – poverty, additional need, technology – constitute a new era of childhood, and it demands a new era of education. The end of politics in some parts. Instead, a village around the child. Every child. With schools as the beating heart of that support.”
