Teachers subject to online bullying

Some parents are using social networking websites to bully their children's teachers online, a new report has revealed.

The UK Safer Internet Centre study found that around one in three teachers have been subjected to intimidation and bullying on the web, with more than a quarter of this thought to be carried out by parents.

Teachers who give bad grades or are disliked by parents or children have found themselves being abused on the likes of Facebook and Twitter, according to Plymouth Business School, which was commissioned to carry out the research.

One headteacher had even been pushed to the brink of suicide after feeling tormented by an online bullying campaign which lasted a whole year, according to the report.

Plymouth Business School professor of social responsibility in IT, Andy Phippen, who helped to carry out the research, said: "You expect a little bit of abuse from children. But when parents launch 12-month campaigns of abuse you have to think 'something has gone wrong here'."

Copyright © Press Association 2011