An NUT survey of teachers' experience of sexism and harassment in schools and colleges has found that nearly one in five primary teachers and two-thirds of secondary teachers have been subjected to sexually abusive language by pupils.

Nearly one in five primary teachers and two-thirds of secondary teachers have been subjected to sexually abusive language by pupils.

And nearly 75 per cent of secondary teachers and 30 per cent of primary teachers have encountered such language being used by pupils against each other.

Slightly more than a fifth of primary teachers and nearly two-thirds of secondary teachers describe the language as sexist bullying, according to a snap shot survey carried out by the National Union of Teachers and analysed by Dr Sean Neill of the School of Education at Warwick University*.

One in five teachers had experienced sexually abusive language directed at them during the last term and one in 20 said it happened at least once a week. One in 10 of the 190 teachers responding to the survey said they had experienced sexual harassment from pupils at some stage in their careers.