82% of school leaders in Wales experience abuse from parents, shows new survey
The poll by school leaders’ union NAHT revealed examples of head teachers and other senior leaders being verbally and physical abused across Wales
More than four infive (82%) school leaders in Wales say they have been abused by parents in the past year, a survey has revealed.
The poll by school leaders’ union NAHT revealed examples of head teachers and other senior leaders being verbally and physical abused across Wales
Verbal abuse was the most common form of abuse suffered, with 78% of school leaders in Wales saying they had experienced this in the past year.
This was followed by threatening behaviour (64%), online abuse (39%) and discriminatory language(18%), including use of racist, sexist or homophobic terms.
More than one in 10 (12%) suffered physical violence.
The survey exposed widespread reports of trolling on social media and in parent groups on - as well as instances of hate campaigns and harassment and intimidation.
Some school leaders said the abuse had made their lives a misery to the extent that they had considered quitting the profession.
It has left some suffering anxiety, depression and panic attacks.
More than four fifths (82%) of school leaders in Wales said abuse from parents had increased in the last three years, with more than a third (34%) of those saying it had ‘greatly’ increased.
Only four percent said abuse had decreased.
Nearly a third (31%) of school leaders in Wales said they typically experienced abuse from parents every month, with 14% saying this happened weekly.
One senior leader in Wales said:
‘Nasty emails are becoming more frequent. I receive abusive emails often from parents without any thought or any balance’.
Laura Doel, NAHT Cymru national secretary, said:
“These results lay bare a worrying trend emerging in Welsh schools whereby verbal and in extreme cases physical abuse is becoming part of the job.
"This is simply unacceptable.
"It cannot be the case that school leaders are subjected to this kind of treatment.
NAHT surveyed 1,642 school leaders across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland from 4-18 November 2024. There were 160 respondents in Wales.
In response to abusive behaviour, almost a third (30%) of school leaders in Wales said they had banned parents from the school site in the last year, 29% said they had reported parents to police and 35% had reported them to the local authority.