From an innocent game of Chap Door Run to an insurmountable barrage of abuse, one Scottish high school teacher recalls the worst period of her career. Ava, who’s real name has been replaced to protect her identity, has been forced out of her home and job after facing sexist abuse from pupils.
Ava wanted to be a teacher since she was in secondary school.
“I absolutely love teaching, I don’t regret coming into teaching,” she said. “I do absolutely love my job; there’s some kids that make it incredibly worth it”.
The abuse began during her first teaching job. She worked at her last post for four years before the harassment became unbearable and she had to move.
Ava lives with her partner. He isn’t a teacher, yet he still had to deal with the ongoing problems from the pupils. The property market at the time limited what was available to Ava, and she said despite the town not being the nicest, several other teachers lived there.
“We moved to that house, and it was fine for the first, kind of, two years. Then, obviously, the kids start catching on where you live, and I knew that was going to be the case, I knew that was going to happen because it’s not a big town.
“They would make the odd comment, like, ‘Oh, we saw you at your house the other day’, you know, they’d make a joke about it. But then, some of the kids that you wouldn’t want to know where you live started finding out where my house was. That’s when the violence started,” she said.
The disturbances started off tame – pupils would shout her name outside of her house or play Chap Door Run, knocking her door and running off before she could open it.
“I kind of expected it, I wasn’t mad about it, you know, we’ve all been there when we were kids,” Ava said.
The children began to visit her house more frequently, until they were outside every night. They also upped their levels of disruption, banging on Ava’s door and windows.
“They’d stand outside my house late at night, particularly on the weekends, screaming my name, calling me a b**ch, telling me that they f***ing hate me,” she said.
That wasn’t all, and it escalated even further to property damage. Her car was scratched, and she had to buy a new tyre after the offenders smashed glass around her vehicle.
“One night around Christmas, they tried to break down my door. They were standing outside, absolutely booting it down, shouting about how they wanted to break in and get me,” she said.
Bricks were hurled at her house, with one narrowly missing a window. This led to Ava taking two to three months off work due to stress.
For Ava, the harassment didn’t end at her home. She suffered abuse when walking her dog or from simply being out in the community as pupils would scream and throw things at her.
Some pupils would comment on what they saw Ava doing in her house, which resulted in her keeping her blinds closed when at home.
“It was like a vampire lived there.
“It got to a point where I was too scared to leave my house. I would have panic attacks, [so] I went to the doctor, [but] they told me that I was overreacting, that it was just kids and to just get on with it,” she said.
Ava also mentioned that she never saw much support from the school or the police.
“I was told by the school that the only way they would intervene and do something to help me was if I was physically harmed by one of the kids.
“I was told by one member of staff, I was given the advice, ‘Why don’t you just move house?’,” Ava said.
She explained that it wasn’t that easy to just “up and leave”.
Several other members of staff that Ava spoke to turned the situation back on her, essentially excusing what the pupils were doing and blaming Ava for not taking more preventative action.
One police officer took over Ava’s case, as she would log complaints every time the abuse happened, and he informed the parents of the pupils what they were getting up to after school.
“A lot of the parents didn’t believe it,” she said.
However, one parent took the abuse seriously and apologised to Ava and kept their son under a close watch going forward. Sadly, he wasn’t the main troublemaker, and his apology didn’t lessen the abuse Ava suffered.
Ava explained that there was a mix of year groups visiting her house, including pupils in S5. She said that it was scary to see six-foot tall boys outside her home when she herself is only 5”2.
She isn’t the only teacher dealing with such circumstances. Recent statistics have revealed that the number of recorded cases of sexist abuse in Scottish secondary schools is increasing. The harassment, most commonly, is from young boys directed towards female teachers.
At least six other members of staff at Ava’s old job are going through the exact same thing; five of them are female.
Ava believes that there are many things that can be done to help relieve teachers of the abuse they face, however, budget restraints and a lack of staff can stand in the way. At her current job, she has had laptops and other objects thrown at her, and she is called degrading curses on a daily basis.
“Violence is everywhere at schools,” Ava said, “Kids need to be learning respect again. I’m only 25 but I would never speak to my teachers like that. I think there needs to be a cultural shift; something needs to be done.”
Ava is worried that if nothing is done, the abuse teachers face will only worsen.
“The councils need to be stepping in. They need to take this seriously. People don’t want to be teachers anymore.
“I think at a national level, the government needs to realise how much of an issue this is and start putting safety measures in schools.
“If you ask someone ‘Should I be a teacher?’, they’ll tell you no, even if they enjoy the job. There’s no support from anyone. You just feel like your own little island. It’s really isolating,” she said.
She believes that since the profession is largely female based, many issues are swept under the rug. Ava explained that the one male colleague she knew of that was suffering at the hands of pupils had the problems resolved quickly.
An FOI to Stirling Council showed that levels of sexist abuse have skyrocketed in the last couple of years. In 2021, 2022, and 2023, less than five instances of sexist abuse per year were reported. However, between November 2023 and November 2024, 54 cases were recorded. As of January, four cases required police involvement and seven were left waiting to be resolved.
A Stirling Council spokesperson said: “We endeavour to instil respectful language and relationship-based approaches across all of our education settings, with a range of equalities-based programmes and approaches available in our schools…Any reported incidents are resolved through school and council health and safety processes.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “There is no place for misogyny or sexism in Scotland’s schools, and any abuse directed towards teachers is completely unacceptable. We all want our schools to be safe places for children and young people to learn and for teachers and staff to work.
“The Scottish Government published guidance on responding to gender-based violence in schools in March 2024, which sets out expectations for recording all incidents of gender-based violence, including those experienced by staff. This guidance was developed in partnership with a range of stakeholders including women’s organisations, trade unions and education representatives.
“Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood education aims to equip young people with knowledge and understanding of issues such as consent, appropriate relationships and boundaries to help them make informed choices that promote and protect their own and others’ health and wellbeing.”
Featured Image Credit: Pexels
Fourth year student journalist studying Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Journalism Studies.
Words at Brig, The Daily Evergreen, Alloa Advertiser, Discovery Music Scotland, and The Mourning Paper.
