Teachers warn of online campaigns by parents

London : Parents are using social networking sites to form online campaigns targeting school staff, teachers have warned.

Members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) say they are alarmed at the detrimental effect the sites can have on those working in education, from incidents of harassment to pupils wanting to be their "friend" online.

One told of a head teacher who had been suspended after allegations were made about him, and discovered that a group of parents had formed a group "to further slur his name" and seek support to have him sacked. "After some months, he is still suspended," the ATL member said.

In other cases, pupils who were annoyed with teachers set up online groups cruelly mocking them, to "get their own back".

Executive committee member Alison Sherratt, who is backing a motion at the union's conference calling for teachers to get advice on the perils of social networking, said that in one incident a female teacher found that an ex-student had created a group for people to join if they thought she was "still a virgin". "She was very unhappy and upset," Sherratt said.

In a survey for the union, one member said they and several colleagues had been distressed by comments made on websites inviting pupils to rate their teachers, with one falling ill as a result.

"The comments are anonymous and therefore there is no way of controlling them [even though] the person making the comments can be doing this for malicious reasons," the member said.

Others voiced concerns that children as young as 10 or 11 were using social networking sites and posting photographs of themselves in their school uniform.