Lord Falconer says that the reputations of innocent teachers should be protected from false accusations of abuse made by children and parents.

False abuse claims ruining lives of teachers, says lord chancellor - Guardian

Extract:

"Teachers' lives and reputations are being "trashed" by false allegations of abuse made by children and parents, the lord chancellor said yesterday.

Lord Falconer said the process of investigation could be "utterly ruinous" and mooted changes to the system by which even unfounded accusations have to be recorded. Every effort should be made to protect the anonymity of teachers during inquiries, he said, adding that on "too many occasions" parents and pupils became aware of allegations and the accused teachers were suspended.

Lord Falconer delighted the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) conference in Bournemouth by saying the "rightful concern" for children to be properly protected must be balanced by the fair treatment of teachers when allegations were made and vindication if they were found to be false. If a case has become public knowledge "there needs to be a process where the clearing of a teacher is made clear and public"."

Let us hope that these changes soon come to be agreed upon and implemented. Too many innocent lives have been blighted by false accusations.


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A deputy head teacher was forced to leave the profession and flee the country to avoid the stigma of a false accusation against him

Deputy head's torment after pupil's false claim - Telegraph

Extract:

"A deputy head teacher was forced to leave the profession and flee the country to avoid the stigma of a false accusation against him, a teacher's union heard yesterday.

The claim that he sexually abused one of his pupils was investigated and discovered to be unfounded and malicious but the child was allowed to return to school.

Such claims are "downright evil," said Bob Williams, from Rochdale, who told how he had held his colleague's hand as he was crying on the day he broke the news to his daughters.

"I was there when he had to tell his 88-year-old father why he was off school," he said.

Members of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers voted to call ballots for industrial action - refusing to teach children returned to the school where they made a false allegations."

It still shocks me, although it has been going on for so long. - It still shocks me.

Compare it with the medical profession. - When GENUINE complaints of very serious misbehaviour by doctors are made - whether complaints of professional negligence/incompetence which have resulted in severe physical, emotional and financial harm to the patient or complaints of sexual abuse causing great distress to vulnerable patients, what is done to help the damaged patients or to protect other patients from similar harm by the doctor? - Usually, nothing at all! - And these are not malicious children complaining for a bit of fun; these are people whose lives, very often, have been comprehensively destroyed by the actions of the negligent doctors.

So innocent teachers are made to suffer when they have done no wrong. And doctors who have done wrong normally incur no sanction, no punishment, but their already suffering innocent victims are punished further by the travesty of the NHS complaints procedures. See Andrea Carey's ordeal and my posts about NHS complaints procedures.

Ofsted inspections are causing so much pressure on teachers that some of them kill themselves.

Inspection pressure 'drives teachers to suicide' - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Teachers are being driven to suicide because of pressure from school inspectors, it was claimed yesterday.

Others are becoming hooked on drink and drugs or developing eating disorders after being swamped by work, according to the National Union of Teachers.

At the union's annual conference in Harrogate, teachers told how they had been reduced to tears in the classroom and warned that colleagues had taken their lives after working up to 90 hours a week.

One head teacher committed suicide just two months after quitting because of a critical inspection by Ofsted, the education watchdog.

Another teacher disappeared on the morning she was due to face Government inspectors and was found dead more than 10 months later in parkland.

A snapshot survey of primary and secondary school teachers in Nottingham, which was presented to the conference, revealed that a third resort to drugs, drink, smoking or binge eating to help them cope. One in 15 takes prescribed medication to get through the day, said the survey of 140 teachers."

"The NUT said it had written to Beverley Hughes, the children's minister, requesting a meeting to discuss the problem of stress, but had been refused."

Teaching is a very stressful job and most teachers get little or no help with their stress problems. I suspect it is the 'prescribed medication' that is precipitating any eating disorders that arise. - It's a very poor show that Beverley Hughes has refused to discuss the problem of the stress that teachers experience.

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Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, will today pledge to defend teachers from bullying by pupils both in the classroom and on the internet.

Clampdown on web bullying of teachers - Telegraph

Extract:

"Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, will today pledge to defend teachers from bullying by pupils both in the classroom and on the internet.

Dealing with pupils who post rude remarks and inappropriate pictures of their teachers on websites like RateMyTeachers will be a priority, he will tell the second biggest classroom union.

Teachers are also being undermined by sites which invite pupils to rate them for professional and personal qualities according to the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers at their annual conference which began in Belfast yesterday.

But bullying is not confined to the classroom, according to some delegates who say it has become part of the staffroom culture in some schools.

Teachers are being bullied by their colleagues because of their weight, sexuality or religious beliefs, say delegates who have organized a fringe meeting to discuss it."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
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(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)