Cyberbullying of teachers by students on YouTube: challenging the image of teacher authority in the digital age

There has been a rapid increase in the cyberbullying of teachers in schools by their students. One aspect of this phenomenon is the posting of visual recordings of teachers and teacher–student interaction on easily accessible websites such as YouTube. Whilst research on the cyberbullying of students by other students has received a great deal of attention, research on the cyberbullying of teachers by students is still in its infancy. This paper addresses key issues that have emerged by examining such recordings which have been posted on YouTube. This paper focuses on one illustrative example from each of three national settings, which feature teachers in Brazil, Portugal and England. The analysis of these three recordings indicates that we need to develop a new conceptual framework in order to understand the cyberbullying of teachers by students. There appears to have been a radical shift in the way students can challenge teacher authority through the use of digital media. Combatting this phenomenon needs to be seen in the context of developing an anti-cyberbullying policy for the whole school. We conclude that teachers, head teachers, students, parents and welfare professionals need to work together to consider how best to deal with the cyberbullying of teachers by students, within the context of developing a positive school community ethos, the adoption of an anti-cyberbullying policy for the whole school, and addressing cyberbullying through the personal and social education curriculum.