Teachers warn of extreme online content influencing pupils in British schools

More than half of teachers say they are influenced by racist and misogynistic social media content from students, a new survey from the National Education Union (NEU) says.

A survey of 10,578 educators found that one in six teachers (16 percent) said a student had experienced misogyny in the past year.

Teachers say harmful or extreme online content, mostly misogynist (56%) and racist (52%), affects students at their school.

More than two in five teachers said homophobic or transphobic content (45 percent) and conspiracy theories or misinformation (43 percent) affected their students.

The findings come as the government considers measures to protect under-16s online, which could include an Australian-style social media ban or measures such as time limits and curfews.

Nearly all teachers (98 percent) said they would support stricter government regulations on technology companies to protect children from addictive algorithms.

The majority of teachers also said that social media causes students to lose their ability to concentrate (71 percent), affects their mental health (67 percent) and faces sleep deprivation (66 percent).

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said these effects were “deeply worrying” and ministers needed to take action to rein in tech companies.

“Addictive social media algorithms feed our children harmful content every day. This content has clear negative effects; educators are reporting racist and misogynistic behavior from young people influenced by what they see online,” she said.

“This is not a problem that schools or parents can solve alone.

“The vast majority of teachers and support staff support tougher regulations on tech companies to protect young people. That’s why we’re calling on the government to raise the age of access to social media from 13 to 16.”

Almost one in 10 teachers (9 percent) said they had been subjected to sexually explicit comments from their students in the past year.

Secondary school teachers reported stronger influences or harmful and excessive online content.

More than one in two say social media use has caused changes in peer relationships (60 percent) and increased bullying or harassment among their students (55 percent).

A teacher who responded to the survey said their school was facing cases of children sharing obscene images and then being blackmailed.

Delegates at the NEU’s annual conference in Brighton will debate a motion on Tuesday calling on the union’s leadership to reaffirm its opposition to all forms of racism, fascism and right-wing extremism.

Another motion to be debated calls on the union to campaign against narratives that immigrants are responsible for all forms of violence against women and girls.

Addictive social media features should not be allowed, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said in an interview with the Sunday Mirror.

He said he had an “open mind” about a complete ban on social media, but said things would not stay that way.

His comments follow a landmark case in the United States in which a jury found Meta and Google responsible for a woman’s childhood social media addiction.

In a potentially precedent-setting verdict, a jury in California recommended the 20-year-old plaintiff be awarded six million dollars (£4.4 million) in damages.

Both Meta and Google plan to appeal, but the Prime Minister said the decision could be a turning point that would lead to “much stricter content restrictions.”