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Teachers have considered leaving their jobs after reading abusive postings on a website that allows their pupils to anonymously rate them, comment on their teaching methods and even spread salacious rumours, a television investigation will reveal tonight.
Teachers' TV says concerns among teachers and unions over ratemyteacher.co.uk, were escalating.
The controversial website began in the US and Canada, but soon after its launch an offshoot was started in the UK. Pupils have been posting comments for the past 12 months.
Teachers are scored on their easiness, helpfulness, clarity and overall quality. Their ratings are added up and the teacher is awarded a smiley face if they receive a good rating, or a sad face if they do poorly.
However, students can go a step further and add anonymous comments to their entries. Some have been particularly venomous, such as "she's cruel and she spits on people she doesn't like", "he is unfair and racist" and "this teacher is seriously awful, she'll guarantee you fail your GCSE's".
The head of Sutton grammar school for boys, Gordon Ironside, told Teachers' TV News that his teachers were so distressed by the website some had considered quitting.
Most of Mr Ironside's teachers were rated very highly on the website and although only two teachers have had negative comments posted on it, he wants it closed down.
"You could argue that they should be thick skinned and just forget it, but they couldn't," he said. "I'd rather the site didn't exist than I lost an extremely good teacher."
The general secretary of the Association of School and College Lecturers, John Dunford, told the station: "I think this is a very damaging website that needs to be closed down as soon as possible. Schools are communities that work well when people trust each other - and to have an open website that is completely anonymous where any student with a grudge can say something potentially libellous about one of the teachers doesn't just damage that teacher, it damages the whole school."
The opposition to the site is not unique to the UK. There has been widespread criticism in the US, where as many as 7,500 new ratings are added each day and more than 500,000 teachers have been the subject of pupils' wrath or praise.
But the creator of the site, Michael Hussey, an entrepreneur from New York, whose mother was a teacher, defends it, arguing that students have the right to talk about their education.
"I absolutely don't understand why one student's opinion would demoralise unless you had questions about your own skills to begin with," Mr Hussey said.
"We are seeking to alienate bad teachers that is for certain, but we also want to spread the word on who is getting through and connecting with their students. To tell you the truth, I kind of enjoy getting under the skin of the teachers' union."
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