Many teachers face 'false claims'

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One in six (17%) have had a false claim made against them by a member of a pupil's family, according to the study by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

One half (50%) of school staff said they or a colleague had had a false allegation made against them in their current school or college by a pupil or a member of a pupil's family.

These were the key findings of a survey of 1,155 ATL members working as support staff, teachers, department heads and school leaders in state and private schools around the UK.

In half the cases the allegation was immediately dismissed by the school, and the police were notified in only 16% of instances.

ATL general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: "School staff are having their careers blighted by false allegations and their private lives damaged as a result of the stress. We are losing good teachers, heads and support staff to the detriment of children's education. We all accept the protection of children is paramount, but that should not be at the expense of natural justice - school staff have rights too.

"This survey suggests huge numbers of staff are facing false allegations every week. It's time the balance was redressed so that school staff are not presumed guilty until proven innocent. The right to anonymity should be re-examined, to reduce the damage to the lives of innocent staff and make it less difficult to reintegrate into school.

"We would also like heads to avoid putting an automatic bar on staff having contact with colleagues, because cutting contact with colleagues compounds stress and feelings of isolation so makes a return to school less likely even when allegations are proved false."

ATL executive member Louise Davies said: "There are serious concerns that staff are at risk of allegations by a few pupils and copycat claims by others. If a pupil has a record of making allegations then staff should be aware of this so they can be extra vigilant for their own safety.

"The pupil may also need to be professionally supported as to why they make such claims."