Teachers face pupil attacks on their homes

Teachers are being intimidated in their own homes and their property damaged by unruly pupils, a union has claimed.

One teacher returned from work to find the word ‘bitch’ painted across her garden wall. Another found his car had been ‘keyed’. A third had 17 windows smashed at her home, while a fourth received a string of late night obscene calls.

These events are just a snapshot of a much bigger picture of intimidation and damage to property endured by teachers on a daily basis, members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) heard at their annual conference in Liverpool.

Even when they are on school premises, teachers cannot be sure that their property is safe. In the last year the union has received 146 claims regarding malicious damage to property and 69 claims of damage to vehicles.

Verdade se diga que um recente comentador andou por aqui a incitar ao ataque a professores, em especial a um da sua desafeição particular.

Mas o interessante é que em Inglaterra 146 queixas são motivo de alarme. Por cá, mesmo depurados, números maiores do que estes, com uma população muito menor, são considerados «casos dramáticos individuais».