There is a report by Steve Henshaw in the SecEd magazine of an increase in accusation made by former pupils. The article says;-
Teachers are facing increasing incidents of former pupils making false accusations against them years after leaving school.
Anything from accusations of sexual abuse and physical assault to allegations that failure to recognise problems such as dyslexia have adversely affected their careers.
Bob Carstairs, assistant general secretary with the Association of School and College Leaders, says in most cases a robust and direct defence sees the allegations collapse before reaching a courtroom.
Mr Carstairs feels the whole issue of allegations has been exacerbated by firms of solicitors, which encourage accusations.
“It’s getting more and more common. More increasingly nowadays people who left school get advised by some firm of solicitors or local community organisations that they have suffered because of whatever happened at school.
“They say a reading disability wasn’t recognised at school and they come back aged 28 and say they could have got a better job if it had been recognised.”
Mr Carstairs says ASCL is handling a handful of these kinds of cases and allegations are split 50-50 between those of sexual abuse and physical assault. Allegations that failure to recognise disabilities form a third string of cases.
“A lot of the difficulty is getting proper evidence together from the accusers and as such a lot of these cases collapse once they realise we’re putting forward a robust defence.”
Mr Carstairs says headteachers and deputies also have to deal with children’s parents who unquestioningly take their child’s side and come “steaming” into school to confront staff. “It’s a symptom of this shift from family values,” he adds.
Surveys by the Teacher Support Network around this subject show some alarming statistics.
Around 16% of teachers have experienced discrimination or harassment from pupils’ parents as a result of their sexual orientation while 15% of teachers would consider leaving the profession because of parental aggression or demands. Around 12% of teachers say they have been abused or assaulted by parents.
Sec Ed also have a Dont Abuse My Name campaign and have a downloadable poster which is suitable for display in schools and staff rooms.
Their web site also includes a number or relevant articles which are well worth reading. These include