Middle-class Muslim parents are homeschooling their children because they are targets for bullying, a research paper has found.

Ofsted has previously raised concerns about a rise in homeschooling in the UK, suggesting that it could be used as a cover for the radicalisation of children.

But new research has suggested that Muslim families are actually pulling their children out of mainstream schools because they are being bullied, including being called paeodophiles and terrorists by other children - and they could become more marginalised as a result.

The paper, by academics at the University of Portsmouth and Birmingham, found that racism was the most commonly cited factor for parents to pull their children out of school, and was important than the desire to promote their religion.

It warned that families who did this "were now more likely to be marginalised in a wider discourse about the threat of Muslim families to British life", even if they had no religious motivation in removing their child from school.

One case study, involving a family living in the west Midlands, involved a university lecturer and primary school teacher who removed both of their children from school after their 10-year-old son was repeatedly called "Bin Laden" by fellow pupils and attacked by children who called him "a terrorist and a paedo".