Many teachers 'face false claims'

False claims are blighting careers, the union says

Nearly 30% of school staff have been the subject of a false allegation of misconduct by a pupil, a survey by a teaching union suggests.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers said false claims blighted careers and damaged private lives.

The ATL, which surveyed 1,155 support staff and teachers, said the safety of children was paramount but argued staff should not be presumed guilty.

It said in half of the cases, the claim had been immediately dismissed.

The survey of private and state school staff revealed that police were notified in 16% of cases and took no further action in 55 of the 67 cases they investigated.

Dr Mary Bousted, ATL general secretary, said school staff are "having their careers blighted by false allegations and their private lives damaged as a result of the stress".

Anonymity issue

She said: "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."

She said the survey - in which 28% of staff said they had been the victim of a false allegation by a pupil at some point - suggested huge numbers of false claims were being made every week and the stress led many staff to leave the profession.

Dr Bousted added: "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."

Last year, the union, which has 160,000 members across the UK, said pupils who made malicious false allegations about teachers should be placed on a school register to protect other staff.

The union said these records should be forwarded if a pupil moves.

It also called for charges to be brought against children as young as 10 who made false allegations.