School leaders have welcomed proposals for the creation of “a cohesion and conflict unit” to support teachers who face “freedom-restricting” threats and harassment during the course of their work.
It is one of a number of recommendations in a government-commissioned review into threats to social cohesion in England, which highlights the case of a religious studies teacher at a school in West Yorkshire who was forced into hiding after accusations of blasphemy.
Published on Monday, the review said the teacher at Batley grammar school was left feeling suicidal and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after being targeted in an online and offline campaign of intimidation and abuse.
The teacher was suspended in March 2021 for showing pupils a drawing taken from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo during a religious studies classes, provoking complaints from parents and protests outside the school’s gates.
He was…