8th April 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Teachers at Darwen Vale comprehensive school in Lancashire have threatened strike action after behavious from pupils has left many staff members feeling intimidated and undermined. Teachers report being pushed, threatened and challenged to fights by aggressive gangs of students who do not fear discipline from school management. There are now very few measures teachers can take to control this kind of behaviour, and they claim senior staff are undermining their authority by returning confiscated mobile phones and maintaining in public that discipline isn't a problem.
A recent development in the schools discipline issue is the number of students who carry mobile phones with internet and video. Teachers report that students film their classes, and use websites such as 'rate your teacher.com' to launch bullying campaigns against them. This issue is not the reserve of schools - home tutors have reported students trying to obtain personal information about them from social networking sites, and even threatening to have their parents fire them if they don't do coursework for them.
Bullying has become a new social issue for the 21st Century - it no longer takes place behind closed doors and a spate of teen suicides has prompted campaigns by parents and focus groups for the government and schools to address this issue, especially with the new trend for cyberbullying that has accompanied social networking sites. However, it appears that we now face a new issue, namely that teachers and tutors are no longer immune to the effects of bullying. Teachers at Darwen Vale have revealed the latest taboo - that teachers no longer have the power or support to protect students or themselves from bullying.