A teacher was filmed being stood up for a fake Tinder date as part of an elaborate prank by her pupils, it has emerged.
The incident was disclosed in a report in the Times Higher Education supplement revealing that 13 per cent of teachers have been the victim of online abuse or bullying by their pupils.
Covert video recordings and compromising photos obtained from teachers’ social media accounts were some of the incidents behind the rise in attacks.
Separate research published in the magazine by Digital Awareness UK revealed the increasingly sophisticated efforts of pupils to embarrass teachers.
The organisation, which was set up to educate children about sexting and cyber bullying, said 30 per cent of the cases it deals with are teachers victimised by tech-savvy pupils and that pranks had become a “huge trend”. One pupil gained access to numerous teachers’ Facebook profiles after creating a fake account purporting to be a member of staff and sending friend requests to colleagues. The student then trawled through the accounts for embarrassing photos before printing them and leaving them around classrooms.
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Another teacher was subjected to derogatory comments on YouTube after a pupil videoed her bending over in the classroom.
Emma Robertson, co-founder of Digital Awareness UK, said: “It is so humiliating and so public — and sometimes so permanent — that it can be hugely distressing for those teachers.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said schools take the problem seriously and take “robust” disciplinary action against the pupils responsible.