Government 'failing to tackle pupils' abuse'

Scottish Secondary Teachers Association president Margaret Smith of the spoke out about the "sinister development" of the technology to target and attack teachers.

Staff could be subjected to "verbal abuse, threats and ridicule" with women "often subjected to grossly offensive comments regarding their personal lives which can be deemed nothing other than sexual harassment," she said.

Ms Smith condemned the government for being complacent over the issue and said it was "an ad hoc attitude on the part of some authorities and managers regarding indiscipline in our schools."

While accepting that classroom indiscipline is "not a uniquely Scottish problem," she said she believed that most European countries are "calling for a co-ordinated approach to indiscipline and see tackling it as part of the duty of care all employers have towards their employees."

But this is rarely the situation in Scotland, she said.

"Standards of tolerance regarding quite shocking levels of misbehaviour differ greatly from school to school, depending on the level of support offered by management towards teaching staff."

But a Scottish government spokesman said: "The vast majority of pupils are well-behaved and a credit to Scotland. However, any incident is one too many and we are working across the sector to improve behaviour in schools."