Classrooms in Crisis: The Impact of Abuse Against Teachers

Published

19 May 2025

Contents

Classrooms are increasingly dangerous places for teachers and students. Since the closure of schools during the Covid-19 lockdowns, the behaviour of students has become increasingly disruptive, and violence is now commonplace.

A quarter of all teachers surveyed by the NASUWT say they experience pupil violence at least once a term, and over 20% of all teachers surveyed reported having been hit or punched by students. Nine per cent of teachers have been spat at, while a quarter of all teachers have to deal with verbal abuse from students at least several times a week.

The results of this abuse are having a profound impact in schools: just two in five students report always feeling safe at school, while 52% of all teachers have considered leaving the profession due to rising pupil aggression. We also know that at the same time, pupil attainment has been negatively affected across all year groups, and young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds have felt the impact most of all.

The government has admitted that this amounts to a “broken system” and the Department for Education has pledged “a comprehensive programme of behaviour support for schools”.

At Save My Exams, we have conducted our own research which has shown that student-on-teacher abuse is widespread and that this support is urgently needed.

We have launched a campaign to raise awareness of the increased abuse suffered by teachers and its impact on teacher wellbeing and retention. However, this behaviour has significant knock-on consequences on students, too: as our research has shown, it negatively impacts students’ personal and social development, and their academic results.

Our report also details how teachers are experiencing more abuse from parents than ever before, including on social media.

As a result of our findings, we call on schools and the government to implement systemic changes to ensure that teachers and pupils are given the tools they need to challenge increasing levels of pupil aggression and violence.

About the data

For this report, we conducted a TLF Research survey of current and former UK teachers. We also submitted a freedom of information request for Department for Education data regarding pupil assaults on adults in UK schools, as well as desk research of relevant teacher and student Reddit threads.

The key findings

Infographic titled "Teachers have feelings too" with statistics on teacher abuse, including 24% not addressed by schools and 41% considering quitting. — **Teacher abuse statistics and Reddit quotes**

Save My Exams surveyed 200 teachers about their experiences of abuse from students and parents via TLF Research. Responses were broken down by generation, gender, teacher type, and by year taught.

Key findings

66% of UK teachers have experienced abuse on some level from students.
Two-fifths (41%) of teachers have left or contemplated leaving teaching due to abuse from students.
Two in three (66%) teachers have been subject to abuse from parents.
A quarter (24%) of UK teachers say parent-on-teacher abuse is not handled appropriately by schools.
Four in ten (41%) teachers say exam results have been impacted negatively due to the consequences of student abuse.
A third of UK teachers admit to feeling an increase in stress, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion due to abuse from students.

The impact of student-on-teacher abuse on UK teachers

Collage of twelve teachers with eyes obscured. Highlights teaching challenges and stress, noting 41% consider leaving due to abuse. "Meet the Team" text. — **Impact of teacher abuse on retention statistics**

Our survey found that student-on-teacher abuse is widespread: 66% of UK teachers have experienced abuse on some level from students. This abuse came in many forms, from physical assault to direct abuse on social media platforms. The types of abuse that teachers receive the most are:

Verbal abuse: 43% of all teachers surveyed
Lack of respect: 41%
Threats or intimidation: 34%
Online harassment (e.g., social media, videos): 21%
Physical aggression: 18%
Emotional abuse: 12%

This abuse has a wide range of negative impacts on teachers:

Almost half (47%) of UK teachers are unmotivated in their role due to abuse from students.
A third (33%) of UK teachers admit to feeling an increase in stress, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion due to abuse from students.
4 in 10 (40%) teachers report being unable to perform at their best due to student abuse.
Two-fifths (41%) of teachers have either left or contemplated leaving teaching due to abuse from students.

Different groups reported these impacts to varying degrees:

Almost half (45%) of female teachers have contemplated leaving the profession due to abuse from students.
Almost half (44%) of millennial teachers have considered leaving teaching due to abuse from students.
More female teachers than male teachers have contemplated leaving the profession due to student abuse.
More male teachers (41% to 25%) reported feeling an increase in stress, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion due to abuse from pupils.

This data shows that student-on-teacher abuse is experienced by a large percentage of teachers, and that it is having a significant impact on teacher morale, wellbeing, and student performance.

There are also disparities in the data between the male and female teachers surveyed, which shows that student-on-teacher abuse is experienced differently based on gender: female teachers are disproportionately affected by student abuse, while men are more likely to feel an emotional toll. Women surveyed also reported being more demotivated and more likely to leave the profession because of student abuse.

In short, student-on-teacher abuse is resulting in:

Increased mental health strain on staff
Reduced teacher job satisfaction
Reduced classroom effectiveness
Poorer student outcomes

The increased risk of staff absence due to mental health problems, burnout, emotional exhaustion, and demotivation also has significant implications for classroom and school culture, the safety of working environments, and, ultimately, is likely to lead to a significant increase in the number of teachers leaving the profession.

Retention is already a concern in education, and our research suggests that the rise in student-on-teacher abuse is only compounding the issue.

The academic impact of student-on-teacher abuse

Graphic highlights student-on-teacher abuse's impact with survey data; 75% say it affects performance, 41% say it affects exam results, featuring exam results sheet. — **Impact of teacher abuse on student outcomes statistics**

Our research suggests that student-on-teacher abuse is having a significant negative impact on student performance and exam results.

The emotional and psychological toll of abuse is leading to an increase in teacher absence, disrupting the delivery of schemes of work, and the continuity of student-teacher relationships.

Studies have shown that significant teacher absence has negative impacts on student test scores, in part because of the pupil need for “human capital”: the “direct, personal and prolonged interactions” between educator and student.

This cannot be compensated even by high-quality substitute teaching, which in any case is in short supply and varies dramatically in quality, with a fifth of supply teachers used in the UK not having a relevant teaching qualification.

Even when teachers are present in their classrooms, student-on-teacher abuse is leading to reduced instructional quality, and results in a negative classroom atmosphere that is not conducive to effective teaching and learning. In fact, nearly a third of respondents to our survey stated that their students were noticeably more disengaged or distracted by student abuse towards their teacher.

The Nuffield Foundation found that poor student behaviour can result in as much as 10 minutes’ lost teaching time in every 30, leading to a significant reduction in teaching time overall. This in turn impacts the ability of teachers to cover the curriculum and ensure exam readiness.

Our research also suggests that the emotional toll of abuse from students has led to some teachers being demotivated (nearly half of teachers we surveyed said that this abuse meant that they enjoyed teaching less), and 40% reported this affecting the quality of their teaching.

In short, the rise in student-on-teacher abuse and poor student behaviour negatively affects exam results for all pupils, and even impacts students’ aspirations for future study and work.

Are students being influenced by their parents?

Infographic titled "Don't teach hate" with statistics on teacher abuse from parents, featuring arrows and data from a Save My Exams survey. — **Parent-on-teacher abuse statistics**

Key findings

2 in 3 (66%) teachers have been subject to abuse from parents.
Almost 1 in 4 teachers have received abuse on social media from a student's parents.
Three-quarters (75%) of millennial teachers have been subject to abuse from parents
6 in 10 (64%) male UK teachers have suffered abuse from parents in person or online.

Our research suggests that the majority of teachers have received abuse from parents. The types of abuse that teachers receive the most are:

Aggressive or mocking emails/messages: 24%
Criticism on social media: 23%
Verbal insults in person: 22%
Targeting during a parent-teacher meeting: 6%
Formal complaints based on personal dislike: 5%

Studies have shown that parental involvement in education has positive effects on student attainment, as well as social maturity, and that positive parent-teacher relationships result in better attitudes to learning and behaviour in pupils.

Communication and collaboration between teachers and parents are essential in establishing these relationships. Our research suggests that this communication is increasingly abusive, and that, far from collaborating with teachers, many parents are undermining schools’ and individual teachers’ efforts to teach and support their children.

It is clear that the Covid-related school closures have increasingly led to parents disengaging with schools and their staff: 40% of parents feel disconnected from their children’s schools. Amanda Speilman, the head of Ofsted, has claimed that the social contract between schools and parents is “fractured”.

But what is less commonly acknowledged is the enormous pressures that parents themselves have faced since 2020: 1.3 million people in the UK lost their jobs during the first 10 months of the pandemic; 58% of parents who had to home-school their children during school closures changed their working status as a result; and, while mental health issues went up across the whole adult population during lockdowns, the deterioration of mental health was worse for parents of school-aged children.

It is in this context of competing stressors that more than a fifth of teachers we surveyed reported being verbally insulted by parents in person, and a quarter of teachers surveyed reported receiving insulting messages on social media. This public abuse not only further undermines trust between students and teachers, but also potentially leads to reputational harm for school staff.

One trend our research detailed was that millennial teachers suffer the most abuse from parents. Three-quarters of all millennial teachers reported having received abuse, which suggests that abuse is being targeted more often at younger, less experienced teachers.

Save My Exams analysed 2,799 posts from 21 global Reddit and sub-Reddit forums related to teaching and pupil experiences within schools. Word-based ranking allowed us to see what percentage of posts incited hatred and/or violence towards teachers.

Key findings

Over two-fifths of Reddit comments towards teachers incite hatred and/or violence.

More than a quarter of hateful comments reference “old age” as a reason for hate.
Almost 1 in 6 Reddit posts reference the term “hate” towards a teacher.

Alongside the fact that almost one in four of the teachers we surveyed have received abuse on social media from a student's parent, our survey suggests that pupils themselves are also using social media and public internet forums to abuse teachers.

Studies have shown that risky and daring behaviour is rewarded on social media, suggesting that there are social incentives for students to engage in abusive behaviour. This amplification of risky behaviours online leads to a higher chance of the behaviour being normalised offline: seeing bad behaviour on social media actively encourages adolescents to imitate this behaviour in real life.

Our research suggests that teachers are increasingly seen as a legitimate target of abuse online, and that, however hollow the students’ threats of violence may be, the pervasive nature of the abuse may be having some real-world consequences for teachers in the classroom.

This may also have consequences for older teachers: the high number of abusive posts related to the age of students could have an impact on the normalisation of age-related discrimination.

The lockdown effect

Key findings

Over a third of UK teachers have reported an increase in threats and intimidatory behaviour from students post-lockdown.
43% of UK teachers cite an increase in verbal abuse from students since the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has been widely established that school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a deleterious effect on students’ wellbeing and academic outcomes. This impacted vulnerable and disadvantaged students most, and Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England during the school closures, said that it was a “terrible mistake” for schools to remain closed while pubs and restaurants were allowed to open.

A quarter of a million children referred to mental health services are still waiting for support, the rate of persistent student absences has almost doubled since 2020, and student behaviour has worsened directly because of the mental and psychological impact of lockdowns. A recent ASCL report concluded that student outcomes, absence, wellbeing and behaviour will not “go back to normal” until the 2030s.

It is in this context that teachers in our survey reported an increase in student-on-teacher abuse: 43% have experienced a rise in verbal abuse post-Covid and 18% reported a rise in physical aggression.

Are schools doing enough to handle this epidemic?

Key findings

Only 21% of teachers believe that abuse from parents and students towards teachers is handled adequately.

Our survey suggested that teachers weren’t always adequately supported by school leadership after facing abuse from students and parents. Just over a fifth of teachers stated that abuse is handled well, and one in ten say that abuse isn’t handled at all.

While the support of middle and senior leaders will vary significantly between schools, this suggests that the problem is so pervasive as to be challenging for schools to deal with adequately.

As a result, Save My Exams submitted a freedom of information request to the Department for Education, specifically requesting data on school suspensions:

Time span	Number of pupils suspended for physical assault against an adult in school
Autumn term of 2016/17 to spring term of 2017/18	9,099
Autumn term of 2022/23 to spring term of 2023/24	19,039

The number of students suspended for the most serious student-on-teacher abuse — physical assault — has increased by nearly 10,000 in just six years. This represents a 109.3% increase.

Given the significant rise in other types of behavioural incidents, with the FOI request showing a 334.1% increase in school suspensions for disruptive behaviour during the same period, and the sharp rise in student-on-teacher abuse revealed by our survey, it is likely that schools are overwhelmed and struggling to respond effectively to such abuse.

Conclusions

The Department for Education has committed to a comprehensive programme of behavioural support in schools. We welcome this pledge. And we especially welcome the recent rollout of mental health support to an additional 900,000 pupils a year. This will play an important role in tackling the record levels of poor mental health in children, and it is positive that the announcement also drew a link between young people’s mental health, wellbeing, attendance and behaviour.

But more can be done. Our report has revealed a significant rise in student-on-teacher abuse and the potentially disastrous consequences of this abuse: not only does it have a profoundly negative impact on the quality of education our young people are receiving, it is dramatically affecting attainment. It is demotivating both students and school staff.

Teachers themselves are having to deal with more verbal and physical abuse and frequent attacks on social media. This abuse is not just perpetrated by students, but increasingly by parents too. All of this means higher teacher absences, and points to a worsening crisis in teacher retention.

While this report has focused on student- and parent-on-teacher abuse, we do not apportion blame to either pupils or their parents. We acknowledge the profound impact that school closures have had on young people and parents’ mental health, the pressures of achieving academic success, and the competing financial and parental pressures felt by caregivers over the past five years. The "social contract” between schools, children and their parents may well be fractured, but we believe that it can heal.

We are calling for more support for schools to improve the lines of communication between parents and schools: more guidance and financial support can help rebuild the trust that has deteriorated. Initiatives to support parents of persistently absent, or mentally unwell, children would also dovetail well with the recent announcement for extra mental health support for school-aged young people.

We also found that not all teachers believe that their schools are adequately dealing with student-on-teacher abuse, and that some are not dealing with it at all. Currently, school heads don’t believe they have the resources to deal with the extreme rise in behavioural issues since the Covid-19 school closures. Again, more investment to support behaviour policies for classroom teachers, as well as middle and senior school leaders, would give them the adequate time and money to deal with this behaviour more effectively. At the same time, more investment in teacher recruitment and retention would also give schools an opportunity to better manage staff workloads and deal with staff absences, as well as build on the “human capital” required to foster the best student-teacher relationships.

Our report paints a stark picture of UK schools, but we believe that with the right levels of investment, and systemic support, a joined-up and collaborative approach will greatly benefit schools, parents and children.

Methodology breakdown

Survey

Save My Exams surveyed 200 current and former teachers regarding their experiences of abuse from students and parents post-COVID school closures via TLF. Responses were broken down by generation, gender, teacher type, and by year taught.

Themes of the survey included:

Teacher attrition and career impact
Personal consequences of student abuse (teacher's perspective)
Parent-on-teacher abuse
Institutional response to abuse
Behavioural changes since Covid-19-related school closures
Impacts on students due to teacher absence

Freedom of Information request to the Department for Education

Save My Exams submitted a freedom of information request to the Department for Education, specifically requesting data on increases in assaults towards adults in schools between the academic years 2016–17 and 2023–24.

Reddit forum data analysis

Save My Exams analysed 2,799 posts from 21 global Reddit forums and sub-Reddit forums related to teaching and pupil experiences within schools. Save My Exams then did a word-based ranking, to see what percentage of posts incited hatred and/or violence towards teachers.

Step 1 – Data collection

We used automated tools to scrape public Reddit posts and comments from the selected sub-Reddits. Only English-language posts were included. Low-quality or off-topic posts were filtered out using keyword logic (e.g., filtering out memes or irrelevant threads).

Step 2 – Sentiment and language classification

Each post was scanned against a curated word bank of over X number of terms and phrases associated with:

Hostile tone (e.g. “hate my teacher”, “can’t stand”, “they’re useless”)
Violent intent or rhetoric (e.g. “want to punch”, “set fire to”, “kill my teacher”)
Derogatory or emotionally charged language targeting teachers specifically

Each post was given a score based on the frequency and severity of flagged terms (i.e. a “word-based ranking”). High-scoring posts were manually reviewed to validate findings and rule out sarcasm or humour where applicable.