Grim research by teaching union the NASUWT found almost a quarter of female teachers have suffered misogyny from pupils in a year amid warnings of a ‘masculinity crisis’
‘Manosphere’ influencers are fuelling a chilling rise in misogyny in schools which ministers are warned is a “ticking time bomb”.
Grim research from union NASUWT found almost a quarter of female teachers have been victimised by pupils – up by 6% in four years. The data highlights increased levels of aggression, disrespect towards women and girls and extremist attitudes, with almost 60% believing social media is playing a role.
General secretary Matt Wrack warned: “We have a masculinity crisis brewing in our schools. Teachers desperately need increased support to deal with this new frontier of behaviour management – it affects the wellbeing of everyone in the classroom.”
A survey by the union found 23.4% female teachers said they have been subjected to misogyny by a pupil in the past year – up from 17.4% in 2023. More than a fifth say they have suffered sexist, racist or homophobic language.
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The misogyny they face leaves them feeling “humiliated”, “violated” and “disempowered”, NASUWT said. One teacher said she faced misogyny on a daily basis. She wrote: “Have had boys joke about raping girls in front of me and laughed about it when challenged.
“Parents have told me if I can’t handle teenage boys then I need to `work in a f****** nursery’.” Mr Wrack said ministers must act to help teachers tackle the sickening pattern. He said: “This generation of teachers faces an unprecedented task that requires urgent action from policy makers.”
He said teachers need support to help challenge and de-escalate toxic behaviour. He also said the Government must go further in challenging platforms who allow hate and misogyny to appear in young people’s social media feeds.
Mr Wrack stated: “Our young people are being exploited to feed tech billionaires’ endless appetites for profit and power, and our education system is under attack as a result.
“Over 70% of the teaching profession is female. If female teachers are reporting that they cannot contain gender-based aggression in their classrooms – and that is exactly what they are telling NASUWT – then we have a ticking time bomb on our hands.”
A Department for Education statement said: “Misogynistic views are not innate, they are learned, and we are committed to using every possible tool to achieve our mission of halving violence against women and girls.”
The DfE said it is supporting teachers to recognise the signs of dangerous ideologies and making sure young people can identify positive role models.
And the statement continued: “We are strengthening our mobile phones in schools guidance to make it even clearer that schools need to be mobile phone-free environments and launching a consultation to seek views from experts, parents and young people to make sure children have a healthy relationship with phones and social media.”