A TEACHING union leader in Scotland has called for “vigilance” as far-right movements and social media turn some schools into a “battleground of blame and violence.”

David Anderson, speaking in Glasgow at his first conference as Scottish leader of NASUWT, issued the warning as delegates prepared to debate a motion on tackling the far-right threat from primary school onwards, through education on hate speech. 

Mr Anderson told the conference: “Abusive rhetoric by politicians is trickling down and facilitating increasingly abusive and hateful speech in social media, which in turn seems to be spurring rapid increases in the frequency of bias-motivated incidents of harassment, threats and violence – including rampant surges in hate crimes.

“Schools and classrooms in some cases have become a battleground of blame and violence.”

Informed by a recent survey of teachers across Scotland, which showed 63 per cent believed social media had negatively impacted pupil behaviour and 5 per cent of female teachers reported experiencing sexual abuse from pupils, he called for vigilance and a united front to continue to challenge “prejudice and hatred” that he says is a threat to equality.

The computing specialist from East Ayrshire added: “Education is often perceived as a threat by the extreme right.

“Internationally, we see the closure of departments of education and the removal of programmes to promote equality within society.

“In the USA it’s called DEI, diversity equality inclusion – that’s in the NASUWT DNA. We must protect and call out any attempt to water down or attack these principles.

“Education remains the best tool we have to counter racist narratives, to address prejudice against refugees and to tackle intolerance in our communities.”