GETTY - STOCK One in 10 teachers reported sexual harassment from pupils

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A survey of teaching staff shows four-fifths felt they had suffered sexual harassment or bullying in the workplace since entering the profession, according to research by the NASUWT union. Three in 10 said they had been subjected to unwanted touching, while two thirds (67 per cent) claimed to have received inappropriate comments about their appearance. More than half of the 1,290 people surveyed said they had received inappropriate comments about sex, while one fifth (21 per cent) said they had been sexually propositioned. Some 3 per cent said they had been the victim of upskirting at work - the cruel craze of taking photographs or videos of a victim's groin area from beneath their clothing - or had images taken down their top.

GETTY - STOCK Teachers have even reported pupils taking unsolicited 'upskirt' photos of them

Schools should be places of safety, yet research undertaken by the NASUWT is showing us that too often teachers are being exposed to sexualised comments and abuse from colleagues, managers, parents and pupils. Chris Keates

Chris Keates, NASUWT general secretary, said: “Schools should be places of safety, yet research undertaken by the NASUWT is showing us that too often teachers are being exposed to sexualised comments and abuse from colleagues, managers, parents and pupils. “The NASUWT will have no hesitation in taking action in schools where sexual harassment and bullying occur and employers fail to operate a zero-tolerance approach. “While the scale of the sexual harassment is deeply disturbing, equally disturbing is the scale of the failure to act on the incidents that were reported." The figures show 8 per cent of teachers surveyed claim they were sexually harassed by a pupil - including one who said a sixth-form student wrote a sexually explicit story about the staff member and handed it in to them - while 7 per cent said their abuse came from a colleague.