Research findings from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) warn that abuse from parents has gotten worse over the last three years.
The survey involved 1,642 NAHT members working in schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and found that 82% had suffered parental abuse in the last year.
Verbal abuse was the most common (85%), but school leaders had also suffered threatening behaviour (68%), online abuse (46%), and discriminatory language (22%) – including racism, sexism or homophobia. Ten per cent of the respondents had been physically attacked.
The abuse takes place regularly, with 35% reporting incidents at least once a month and 16% saying it happens every week.
And 86% said that the parental abuse has increased in the last three years (37% said it has “greatly” increased). It comes after NAHT research last year revealed an 83% rise in vexatious complaints.
When it comes to the online abuse, the school leaders reported trolling on social media and in parent groups on networks like Facebook and WhatsApp. In extreme circumstances there have been hate campaigns, harassment and intimidation online.
In response to the abusive behaviour, 42% of school leaders said they had banned parents from the school site while a third had reported parents to the police (32%) or the local authority (34%).
More common responses included arranging a meeting with the parents concerned (80%) or issuing a warning letter/email (72%).
One concern is that a minority of parents are taking advantage of the complaints system to lodge vexatious complaints with multiple agencies at the same time, sometimes ignoring the school’s own complaint processes or escalating complaints before the school’s processes have been exhausted.
Parents can escalate complaints directly to the Department for Education (DfE) or Ofsted as well as to bodies such as the Education and Skills Funding Agency, the Teaching Regulation Agency, and to local MPs.
Some school leaders in the survey said they have been driven to the point of quitting by the abuse, with reports of anxiety, depression and panic attacks. One described how “malicious” and “vexatious” complaints had made them ill.
Another, whose staff had to deal with repeated complaints including nasty personal comments, said: “I felt very low and dreaded opening my emails.”
The NAHT is currently running a No Excuse for Abuse campaign and is calling on the government to “send a clear signal to parents”. The union also wants ministers to approve an “urgent review” of complaints procedures to deter the vexatious use of the system, especially the capacity for making multiple complaints at the same time.
Paul Whiteman, the NAHT general secretary, said: “In recent years we have heard of a worrying increase in the amount of abuse school leaders are experiencing. Some of the stories we are hearing about the appalling abuse leaders and their staff are suffering from parents are almost beyond belief.
“These are dedicated professionals, who work hard day-in, day-out to deliver a first-rate education for children in often trying circumstances. No-one should have to suffer this sort of abuse in their place of work.
“It causes enormous distress for school leaders, their staff, and sometimes pupils, and is even contributing to decisions by good people to leave the profession at a time schools are facing a severe recruitment and retention crisis.
“Where parents have concerns, worries or complaints, they of course should be able to raise these with the school, but this has to be done in a respectful manner. Put simply, whatever the situation, there is never an excuse for abuse.”