AI threatening to turbo-charge abuse in schools if not tackled

The next Scottish Government must do more to tackle and disrupt the growing influence that online disinformation and hate speech is having on the behaviour of children and young people in Scotland's schools.

With the power of AI threatening to compound the challenges of a rise in online abuse and attacks, NASUWT - The Teachers' Union is warning that the incoming administration must prioritise the development of a national strategy for countering online disinformation and polarisation. This must be accompanied by a greater focus on challenging violence, abuse and disruption in schools as evidence shows that there is little positive progress being made despite the introduction of the Action Plan on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools in 2024.

NASUWT teachers attending the Union's Annual Conference will today call on the next Scottish government to commit to creating an effective workforce planning strategy which ensures that sufficient numbers of teachers are being trained, qualified teachers are able to access permanent posts, action is taken to address geographical area or subject shortages and pupils in the senior phase are taught by subject specialist teachers.

With work underway to reform special needs provision in England this will generate around £900 million in Barnett Consequentials. NASUWT is calling for the next Scottish government to commit to ringfencing this money for spending on ASN to help address current shortfalls in staffing and resourcing.

Matt Wrack, NASUWT General Secretary, said:

"AI poses an opportunity, but also a potential threat to the safety and wellbeing of our children and also our school staff. Teachers are already dealing with an upswing in racist, misogynistic and anti-immigrant rhetoric fuelled by social media, which is leading to incidents of harassment, threats and violence.

"AI threatens to turbo-charge this threat which is why a key challenge for the next Scottish Government must be to equip young people and teachers with the tools to recognise and counter online disinformation, along with greater regulation of the use of AI.

"This must go hand in hand with tougher action to address all forms of abuse and violence from pupils. Little progress is being made on the ground, with schools and local authorities failing to consistently implement the recommendations of the National Action Plan on Relationships and Behaviour. We need to see more stringent measures taken to ensure disruption, abuse and violence is not tolerated in any school across Scotland."

Mike Corbett, NASUWT Scotland National Official, said:

"Currently we have the scandalous situation of thousands of teachers being trained at public expense for jobs that don't exist, all the while those teachers who do have permanent posts are drowning in workload.

"The current teacher supply system is failing teachers, pupils and the taxpayer. We need the incoming administration to work with us on an effective strategy to ensure we have the sufficient teachers in the right places, teaching the subjects they are trained for.

Underpinning this and the other challenges facing the education system, including excessive bureaucracy and unmet additional support needs, is investment.

"We believe there has been historic underinvestment in education which is manifesting itself in many of the problems we now see in our schools. We need the next government to commit to greater funding for our education system in order to build a better future for our children and our teachers."