Teachers suffering bullying and harassment

"Horrendous" levels of bullying and harassment are now the norm in schools, with young female teachers frequently confronted with sexist language and bullying in school.

A report from the NUT teaching union reveals that young teachers are increasingly seen as "fair game" by some pupils for sexual harassment, including touching and innuendo. One in 20 teachers said the abuse happened at least once a week.

In contrast to homophobic and racist bullying, the union said, sexist bullying is often ignored - even though women make up over two-thirds of the teaching workforce in state schools.