Parents must stop defending their children on social media as it makes bullying worse, headteachers say

Camilla Turner
Updated
Nine in ten heads said that social medial is damaging the mental health of pupils - Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Nine in ten heads said that social medial is damaging the mental health of pupils - Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Parents should stop defending their children on social media because it only makes the bullying worse, headteachers have said.

Nine in ten heads said that social medial is damaging the mental health of pupils, according to a survey conducted by The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), which represents heads from both the private and state sectors.

Of the 457 headteachers who took part in the survey, many gave detailed accounts of issues they have encountered surrounding social media use.  

One headteacher told the survey: “Far too frequently parents join in with trolling or abuse incidents or model abusive or harmful social media behaviour to their children themselves. 

"The classic example being parents wading in on social media with threats of violence or confrontation to 'protect' their own child.”  

Another added: “Whilst the school educates students and imposes limits of acceptable use, many parents are unable or unwilling to apply limits at home. A very small number of parents also behave badly on social media.” 

Parents should stop defending their children on social media, headteachers say
Parents should stop defending their children on social media, headteachers say

Nine out of ten headteachers said that their pupils were missing out on sleep as a result of social media use.  A similar proportion felt that new laws and regulation should be introduced to ensure social media sites keep children safe, and 77 per cent said that more guidance is needed for parents as well as pupils.

Almost all the respondents said they had received reports of pupils encountering upsetting material on social media – such as sexual content, self-harm, bullying, or hate speech.

Speaking at ASCL’s annual conference in Birmingham on Friday, the union's general secretary Geoff Barton will say: “More must be done to protect young people so that they can enjoy social media safely and responsibly.

“We recognise that the government is trying to find solutions but we are not convinced that the current proposals go far enough.  

“We will be seeking a meeting with the Secretary of State for Education to discuss the findings of our survey and to explore the options for more stringent safeguards and more public information for parents.”