Schools demand national campaign against parents who are abusive to school staff

[noblegiraffe]

A survey suggests that 30% of classroom teachers and 75% of headteachers have received verbal abuse from parents this year, a marked increase on before the pandemic.

The North East Schools network would like to see a national NHS-style campaign to highlight the issue and to say that abuse against school staff is never appropriate. Given that there are many public places that have signs up saying 'abuse against staff will not be tolerated' it always surprises me that this is not already a thing in schools.

Interestingly the article notes "While most interactions with parents were positive, there were small groups of parents “willing to be abusive towards school staff” – including complaints straight to external government agencies.
These bodies, such as Ofsted, the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency “should only get involved once the school has completed their complaints procedure”."

Perhaps all those on here who rush to write 'complain to Ofsted' about some school incident should take note that they are part of the problem.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-demand-national-campaign-against-abusive-parents/

This may be why there is an increase in complaints!

Similar to LAs whinging about losing 97% of EHCP appeals in the courts. Is the issue the apparent 'unfairness' to them of losing all those appeals, or is it their illegal conduct that drives parents to take acton in defence of their child's rights?

Think we need a natonal campaign, just not the one OP is suggesting.

Sorry, typo-tastic tonight...

Think we need a natonal campaign, just not the one OP is suggesting.

Perhaps you mean in addition to the one I am suggesting.

Happy to back a campaign to improve SEN provision for children, the situation is dire.

I read something linked a little to this on Twitter recently. Someone has asked about how teaching is seen as a vocation by some, and as such people do go
above and beyond role, putting in lots of hours, volunteering for extra activities etc. Most teachers really do care about the kids.

Then the procedures within teaching are professional , and so complaints procedures etc obviously need to be clear etc. There of course must be opportunities for people to feed back and of course complain and if necessary . However , because teacher often have put so much into the role, it can seem very personal , when of course , it usually isn’t meant to be.

The obvious thing is to
ensure it is more professional than vocational/ expecting people to give more but the problem with that is lack of money to run schools without people going above and beyond.

Not sure I have explained that very well, but it certainly made me think about why sometimes I can feel upset about complaints as a teacher, and as a parent made me think about what I can do when I want to feedback to my children’s school.

None of this is abusive of course, but I think it helps to explain two different ways people come at issues, and why people may not understand why teachers get upset. It’s people coming from different work worlds.

Someone said upthread that they don't consider it being SEND parents who're being referred to as the abusive ones as they generally understand the need for a good home/school relationship etc and on the whole (there are always exceptions!) I agree.

However the SEND provision issue I think does drive a lot of these 'raging' parents and complaints even from non-SEND families.

Parents are going to be 'raging' when their usually bright, happy KS2 child has been walloped by little Jim for the fifth time this term and is now refusing to go to school without huge distress. The parent has complained to the Teacher twice, then the Head. The school are powerless to do much about it and appear to the parent be ineffective, and unbothered about with bullying. The truth is Jim cannot cope with the environment and actually needs 1-1 or small group support at best, or potentially even special school placement but the LA have said no to even assessing for an EHCP.

Parents are also going to be 'raging' when their child has been on the receiving end of multiple sanctions, suspensions etc etc when they know (and they're usually right!) that the behaviours are as a result of unmet need and neither the school or the LA will recognise this or help. School by now just wants rid of the child. That happens all to frequently,

I'm not saying there aren't some parents who are just foul. There are; there always has been. I remember some from my own school days 25 years ago (funnily though the 'kids' my age are much like their parents were before them.

Not all issues in schools are SEND related, but even the children who do not have SEND and their families feel the impact of the current situation enormously. They might not realise that's what the issue is because schools frequently can't tell them. Thus, school gets blamed for being 'useless'.

I also despair as a parents, listening to other parents. Their expectations of what one teacher with 30 children can provide are way off . The way they share with delight ,the way they tackled the issue with the teacher, with other parents, really makes me cringe. It’s like they are trying to prove something. Of course I have occasionally had to raise an issue, but I do it privately, respectfully. I’ve always found it works.

@Rappelletoi It's the latter!

The 97% figure would be higher still if you were allowed to count the number of cases where the LA folds prior to the hearing.

Often the mediation and tribunals are used as a delaying tactic depending on where you are in the financial year. An EOTAS package or particularly expensive set of provision... oooop let's bump that one over into next years budget. Tribunal, then fold, once the FY has ended.

Happens all the time.

Ofsted, on receiving such a complaint, would either:
a) Ignore it if it is simply ranting
b) Suggest a parent use the school complaint procedure or direct them appropriately.
c) If they had any concerns, would, through their regional link, speak to the local authority/regional schools commissioner office links for relevant area and discuss the issue and relevant school to see if any concerns were in their sightlines, needed follow-up, were already being monitored

Ofsted regularly raise issues reported to them by parents with us (LA) in their regular meetings with us about our schools. Mostly to tell us there has been contact. Most concerns raised by parents are personal to them and they are annoyed because the concern has not reached the outcome they want eg a child/children excluded, a member of staff disciplined, their own child not excluded. That is not an issue for Ofsted. Most concerns are already known to us (LA) because they have also been reported to us by the parent and the school and we have already advised on action/outcome and are satisfied it is being appropriately dealt with, or we are already supporting and monitoring the school. Occasionally, OFSTED will ask us to look into something and report back to them where we feel the school is on a matter - an example would be they recently asked us to look (in a particular secondary school) at the attitudes of older teenage boys (Y10-11) towards girls in a school, whether the school was doing any work on this and how any incidents had been dealt with and outcomes followed-up. It was quite an unusual request. The school was dealing with several incidents, had a programme in place with a group of boys, was monitoring the effect of it and the boys' behaviours carefully and doing student voice work with girls about how they felt they are treated. It was an issue, had been recognised, appropriate action put in place and outcomes were being carefully monitored and the outcomes were positive so far. That is all anyone could ask.

d) Rarely, it might raise a school's profile with them if we are unable to provide reassurance and there are already concerns about a school - which could put them into an early inspection slot than we would have expected.

e) Very rarely they could decide to inspect a school immediately - likely on a Safeguarding basis. I have not known this happen but it does.

I think parents who shout and threaten'I'm going to Ofsted' think Ofsted jump at their phone call or that the Head is terrified. I imagine every Head hears it from angry parents quite regularly. I did as a Deputy Head and I do as a School Improvement Advisor for a local authority. Probably the first couple of times as Deputy Head I felt a but worried but I wouldn't now. I know we do the right things- not doing what a parent wants is not an Ofsted matter.

However, it is important that the route is available to parents- there are occasions where it is needed.

If Ofsted had a very serious matter about a school raised with them, that a LA was unaware of , and once brought to our attention we were concerned by and unable to provide reassurance that it was already being addressed, I would think it reasonable that it prompted an inspection. It has not happened.

Local authorities and RSCs Offices talk to Ofsted regularly and share info about all schools. There should be no surprises if the system works well.

There are enormous issues with SEN provision and tribunals. Our LA has over 100 tribunals waiting to be heard.

However it feels like as a society we’re getting impatient, angry and less tolerant. We’ve noticed an uptake in spurious complaints and also abusive emails in our customer service team. The language on here sometimes is a good example, posters are raging, fuming. I can’t remember the last time I was raging.
Annoyed and mildly irritated yes.

Agree with this.

In my experience the people who are apparently raging and fuming and furious are usually the ones either moaning about non-issues or are complaining about a situation that's escalated needlessly because the parent always has beef with school.

The people who are tearing their hair out at a system that's letting their children down are often frustrated and exasperated, but it's rare I see posts from these parents being threatening, trying to sack individual staff, throwing Ofsted round as a threat. I've rarely seen this at work either.

The first group are probably people who are raging when the supermarket doesn't have the right ketchup or a car park was full at a busy event, or pride themselves on how they put a call centre worker in their place. They're very overdramatic.

No. The one you are suggesting seeks to blame parents for speaking out when children are brutalised and to smear people who use legitimate avenues for complaint as abusive.

I'll meet you half way in a campaign that treats children, parents and staff members with respect and compassion, where psychological harms are avoided being caused to all parties, and civil rights of children are upheld. This would follow BPS recommendations and outlaw internal isolation in favour of restorative policies.

No. The one you are suggesting seeks to blame parents for speaking out when children are brutalised and to smear people who use legitimate avenues for complaint as abusive.

Blimey mate, I think you have confused me with someone else.

I've known this happen; the LA handed the safeguarding investigation required by Ofsted back to the School, and a junior member of staff was tasked with 'investigating' a serious complaint against the Head Teacher. I cannot think of any other safeguarding scenario where it would be acceptable for a direct report to investigate the senior officer. Hardly inspires confidence or creates the impression of propriety.

Brutalised? How?

Does your disgust of spurious complaints apply in both directions? Or just complaints made by parents about staff? Because the ‘increasing friction’ is not being helped by FII accusations from schools against parents, often disabled parents &/or parents with disabled DC, the vast majority of which are unfounded. 50% of FII allegations are made following a parent making a complaint.

I don't know what an FII allegation is.

Posters saying teachers should just ignore parents saying they will complain to ofsted are showing a shocking level of empathy.

Teaching is about building relationships with families and a community. A fake accusation however spurious can destroy years of building trust and ruin careers. There's no way a teacher could just ignore it.

Also, I think the threat of ofsted is abusive. If ofsted were to come into school on the back of a complaint then it would investigate the entire school. The impact on the member of staff who 'caused' this situation is awful to think about. The stress of ofsted is real.

There are many other avenues to explore rather than lazily yelling about going to ofsted at the first sign of a problem.

FII is Fabricated or Induced Illness.

Ah right. I can't say I have any experience of that. Teachers of course have safeguarding responsibilties but I don't think they should be making any diagnoses.

Schools are the second most common source of FII accusations. The vast majority of which are unfounded. 50% of FII accusations are made after a parental complaint. Disabled parents and parents with disabled children are more likely to have an FII accusation made against them. It is a growing problem causing ‘increased friction’ and breakdown of the relationship between parents and schools.

The LA should never 'hand it back to the school'. The LA should investigate in the school- discussion with the Head and then investigate it. Ofsted would expect a written report including how the LA investigated it- ie what you actually did. I fill in evidence forms and collect evidence myself and copy evidence found in the school. Anything I refer to is evidenced. It has to be rigorous. The report goes to Ofsted and I then discuss it in a meeting with our link. It's not 'say-so' stuff from the school.

Schools are the second most common source of FII accusations.

What's the most common source? I can't say I'd think it's a particularly common accusation, but if it involves children I'm not surprised that schools are high on the list.

'Brutalised' children and 'FII accusations'
With all due respect these sound like specific axes to grind.
Not at all what @noblegiraffe was talking about.
Worthy of their own threads clearly?

There has been a significant increase in FII allegations. It is more common than you think and a growing problem. In Cerebra’s study, NHS practitioners were the most common source.

I don’t have an axe to grind. My point is the ‘increased friction’ and breakdown of trust between parents and schools is not only about spurious complaints from parents about staff and any campaign needs to focus on both directions. The issue is also interlinked by one leading to the other in more than a few cases.

@spinningplate I am sorry if I am sounding thick but do you mean like munchausens? Sorry if my spelling is off.

I have only has to make a safeguarding concern about that once and remember it would go through a team before it would go anywhere.

I would only signal I thought there might be an issue. And it would be investigated. It's vigorous and multi agency normally. After a lot of investigation.

Really unusual though. I am not sure it's abusive though to safeguard a child. Lots of the parents/ guardians I work with do not have their children's best interests at heart.

I am not being disrespectful if that's your reality.