Laws banning "upskirting" in Scotland have failed to sufficiently protect teachers from pupils who use mobile phones to take such pictures, a union official claimed.

Jane Peckham, the national officer for the NASUWT teaching union in Scotland, spoke out about the harassment and abuse that female staff in schools can face.

She said: "Teachers report that the issues of sexualised behaviour and abuse is so rife in schools that its prevalence is almost dismissed as banter now, and senior management sometimes choose to turn a blind eye, accusing teachers of over-reacting if they do report it."

While legislation was passed in Scotland criminalising those who take pictures either up someone's skirt or down their blouse, Ms Peckham said these laws were "not making an impact in the way that they should be".

Speaking about the problem at a fringe event at the Scottish Labour conference in Dundee, she said: "There are pupils who are setting up phones and sliding bags under teachers as they go round and then posting all of this."

Ms Peckham added: "In Scotland as you know the law was changed by the Sexual Offences Act in 2009 to include upskirting and downblousing as being illegal.

"The concern is that even when that is being reported I think there was only 11 cases that ever got to be heard.

"So even though we have protections other nations in the UK don't have, they still are not making an impact in the way that they should be."

Sexual harassment is a "major issue" in schools, she said, with a survey by the union two years ago showing one in six female teachers has suffered abuse in the last two years.

Ms Peckham said: "Teachers and other school staff should be protected by health and safety legislation, but our research is showing employers are failing in their duty to take this seriously."

She continued: "We've done a lot of surveys and we have case work evidence from teachers who have also witnessed young girls being pressurised in to sexualised behaviour, particularly through social media and mobile phones.

"Teachers regularly hear young women referred to as sluts or slags, witness unwanted sexual touching and when they do attempt to tackle this or report, they are quite often faced with disbelief and their concerns are trivialised."

Speaking about the abuse some teachers can face, she said surveys by the union had revealed "a Facebook group was set up to mock a teacher and her appearance a couple of months after she started at school".

Ms Peckham went on: "There are threats of sexual violence and rape towards teachers online, fake accounts set up where young boys are speaking suggestively about members of staff, a site called Teachers We Want to F*** has photos of staff on it where pupils are leaving comments and photographs."

She continued: "Teachers reported pupils filming themselves masturbating and sharing the images, girls taking nude pictures of themselves and sending them to older boys, regular incidents of girls sending nude pictures to their boyfriends and then these are more widely shared."

To start to tackle the problem, she said: "Schools must be encouraged to monitor and record incidents against teachers and pupils that are of a sexualised nature."

She also said all schools should have "whole school policies on preventing sexual harassment and violence" to protect pupils and teachers.

She added: "There has to be a clear message that those who do seek to abuse, harass and threaten staff and pupils through the use of social media will face serious sanctions - zero tolerance has to be introduced."