A ‘masculinity crisis’ is brewing in UK schools, union says | Schools
A “masculinity crisis” is brewing in schools across the UK, with misogynistic abuse of female staff on the rise, leaving victims “traumatized”, “humiliated” and “humiliated”, teacher leaders have said.
Almost a quarter of female teachers surveyed by the union said they had been the target of misogyny from a student in the past 12 months; This is the highest rate in the last four years of surveys.
A teacher said a student called him a “fucking asshole”. Another said a student took nude photos of himself with an AI, while other boys joked about raping girls and then laughed when he was challenged.
The NASUWT teachers’ union’s survey of 5,000 people revealed that misogyny towards female teachers has shown an increasing trend in recent years, rising from 17.4% in 2023 to 19.5% in 2024, 22.2% in 2025 and 23.4% this year.
NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack warned of a ticking bomb and called for better support and training to deal with the impact of the “manosphere” in schools.
“More than 70 percent of the teaching profession is women,” he said. “If female teachers report that they cannot control gender-based aggression in their classrooms – which is exactly what they are telling the NASUWT – then we have a ticking bomb on our hands.
“These students are the same boys and young men who will become husbands, fathers and colleagues in the workplace. They may eventually have influence in the public sphere. We must help them and their victims – including teachers – before it is too late.”
Misogyny was also high on the agenda earlier this week at the annual conference of the NASUWT’s sister union, the National Education Union (NEU), which linked the rise in schools to extreme online content and personalities.
Near East University Secretary General Daniel Kebede said: “Addictive social media algorithms feed our children with harmful content every day. This content has clear negative effects.”
The issue of misogyny among boys and young men has been brought to national attention in recent weeks by Louis Theroux’s documentary Inside the Manosphere and before that by the award-winning drama Adolescence.
The latest survey focuses on female staff rather than students. Female teachers described being ignored, ridiculed, and belittled by their students, called “love,” told to “calm down,” and belittled with comments such as “must be that time of the month.”
They complained about sexualized voices and gestures used to humiliate and humiliate, and about not receiving adequate support from parents or school management. “My mother told me that if I couldn’t handle young boys I should ‘work in a fucking nursery’.”
One said she was asked sexual or inappropriate questions, while another documented her experiences: “Told me I was a bad teacher. Asked why I didn’t smile more. Meowed by male student.”
Another said: “It frustrates and angers me that it is not taken seriously enough by management (who are mostly male) and who perhaps do not appreciate the impact it is having.”
Wrack called for more staff training. “There’s a masculinity crisis looming in our schools. Teachers desperately need more support to deal with this new frontier of behavior management; it impacts the wellbeing of everyone in the classroom.”
“We need mandatory professional development packages to help teachers identify, challenge and safely de-escalate behavior resulting from online radicalisation, sexism and hate.”
The issue will be discussed by delegates at the NASUWT annual conference in Birmingham on Saturday. The survey on members’ experiences of misogyny in the classroom was first added to NASUWT’s Big Question survey in 2023.
Rebecca Hitchen, head of policy and campaigns at the Coalition to End Violence Against Women, called for strong sanctions against tech companies that fail to tackle the spread of misogyny online.
“These findings show once again how schools, particularly female teachers and students, are bearing the brunt of rising misogyny fueled by for-profit tech companies. This not only impacts girls’ rights to education and safety in the classroom, but also has a chilling impact on equality across society.”
“Teachers, schools and specialist services on violence against women and girls must be provided with sustainable and adequate resources to respond to these new challenges and ensure that young people are equipped with the tools to develop healthy romantic and sexual relationships in their adult lives.”
A Department for Education spokesman said: “Misogynistic views are learned, not innate, and we are determined to use every tool possible to achieve our mission to halve violence against women and girls.
“Our updated relationships, sex and health education guidance is designed to ensure all young people can identify positive role models, and we provide resources to support teachers to recognize the signs of ‘incel’ ideologies so we can intervene effectively.”
