Pupils upskirting teachers increasing, NASUWT Cymru warns

Sion Amlyn, a national executive member of the union, said it was seeing an increase in the number of reports of pupils upskirting

Pupils secretly taking pictures up teachers' skirts and posting them on social media is becoming more of a problem, a teaching union has warned.

The issue was raised at NASUWT Cymru's conference being held in Wrexham.

The comment follows the introduction of legislation by the UK government making upskirting a criminal offence.

Sion Amlyn, a national executive member of the union, said it was seeing an increase in the number of reports of pupils upskirting.

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He told BBC Wales' Cymru Fyw: "Quite disturbingly there's an increase in the practise of upskirting or downblousing by pupils on teachers and that has a detrimental affect on the wellbeing of our members.

"They suffer from depression, they don't want to go back to work again and in our mind, more needs to be done to tackle this kind of practice.

"Schools are trying. There are mechanisms in schools to tackle this but I don't think they are being used properly or adequately enough."

What is the current law?

• There is no specific offence naming and banning upskirting in England and Wales, victims and police are currently only able to pursue offences of outraging public decency or as a crime of voyeurism

• Upskirting has been an offence in Scotland since 2010 when it was listed under the broadened definition of voyeurism

What are the limitations of the current situation in England and Wales?

• Voyeurism only applies to filming actions taking place in private

• Outraging public decency usually requires someone to have witnessed the action but upskirting is often unobserved

• Unlike other sexual offences, people don't have automatic right to anonymity

What does the new law propose?

• As well as carrying a maximum two-year sentence, it would also allow, in the most serious cases, those convicted to be placed on the sex offenders' register