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Teachers and lecturers working with the 14-19 age group are currently facing reforms likely to induce ill-health, CUSN Chief Executive Julian Stanley told a conference this week.

Speaking at the 14-19 Provision conference in Westminster, he said that the current period of rapid transition in 14-19 practice would only work well if teachers and lecturers are fully supported during the process.

A recent story by the BBC has highlighted the possible hazards of using social networking sites, particularly during work hours. The article, published on the 22 May, discussed the recent case where a teacher in the area of Argyll and Bute is understood to have posted up to 38 updates a day on the Twitter site. Many of the posts featured information about her classes and students and were posted during working hours.

From coming into contact with thousands of education workers throughout the year, we know that disruptive or threatening behaviour can be a concern for staff members throughout education.

Although violent incidents are rare, they can be extremely harrowing for those involved and the wider community. In addition, milder cases of threatening or persistently disruptive behaviour are a more common cause of problems for those working within adult, further and higher education.