TEACHERS have complained of “bullying” by pupils who use mobile phones to film them losing their temper and then send the videos to their friends for amusement.

Often, the pupils goad staff into “ranting for the camera” to make the video as entertaining as possible.

The phenomenon has caused such concern that it is to be raised in a motion at this week’s annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in Gateshead.

“There has been an upsurge in the covert filming of teachers,” said Andy Brown, the teacher who has tabled the motion calling for the union to study ways of preventing it.

“In some cases, teachers’ heads have been superimposed on another image to make them look stupid and the whole thing posted on an internet site.”

Most schools now ban mobile phones from classrooms or insist they can be carried only if they are switched off. However, this rule is difficult to enforce.Some phones are small enough to conceal all but the camera lens in a pocket or behind a book.

Once the film is made, it can be shown in the playground, sent by text message or posted on the internet.

The videos are not violent, unlike “happy slapping”, in which youths film each other attacking people. Teachers are worried, however, that the videos expose them to humiliation and, if seen by parents or colleagues, may damage their careers.

Some observers point out, however, that the threat of covert filming may prompt teachers to curb their tempers and maintain high standards themselves.

At one school in the West Midlands, 15-year-olds have recently been passing around a recording of their science teacher yelling: “I wonder why you bother to come to school when you are going to turn out this kind of miserable s**te.”

One teenager at another school, who did not wish to be identified, said: “The idea is to get the teacher to blow their top and then play it back to amuse your friends.”

Bob Carstairs, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said schools had seen an increase in such misuse. He said one or two headteachers every week were ringing the union’s helpline to ask for help to curb covert filming.

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