TEACHERS from Wrexham this week led calls for parents to be held responsible for their children's behaviour and for malicious allegations made against them.

At this week's National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) conference representatives from Wrexham and Gwynedd called on the Government to punish parents when their child behaves unacceptably.

'What we are calling for is for parents to take responsibility and be culpable,' said NASUWT Wrexham spokesman Geraint Davies.

'Teachers are under attack in their own classrooms and at the moment they have no defence.

'And it is not just physical. An escalating problem is malicious allegations, where children make false claims against teachers as a reaction to getting into trouble.

'At the moment a lot of parents push the cases and take up against the teachers, maybe because they think there may be compensation.

'But most parents can tell when their child is lying, they are not stupid. So why do we let them cause this stress for teachers and ruin people's careers?

'Teachers are not abusive as a rule. We studied the allegations made against teachers over the last 10 years. There were 2,000 in Britain. Of those 97.4% didn't even get to the stage where a teacher was charged. Only 0.5% resulted in a guilty verdict.

'But these cases all cause stress for teachers and can cause them to leave the profession and abandon their career.'

Wrexham teachers want to see repercussions for parents who support their children making false accusations.

'We want a redress through the courts,' said Geraint. 'We believe that if a child is found to be lying, the parent is responsible.

'Too often are teaching standards blamed for poor behaviour in school and elsewhere. It is time parents took responsibility for their own children.

'I'm sure the prospect of being sued would spur parents on to take their children's conduct more seriously.

'It may make some parents take their children out of school rather than face the prospect of court but is that such a bad thing?

'It would still remove the problem and they may still end up in court under truancy laws.

'Teachers' status has been undermined by both pupils and parents. We need to get that back and that means teachers must have protection and the ability to bring those who falsely question their integrity to book.'