FEMALE teachers are struggling to contain a “masculinity crisis” in schools that is a “ticking time bomb” for the country, a teaching union has warned.

A NASUWT survey found 23.4 per cent of female teachers were subjected to sexist abuse from a pupil in 2025, up from 22.2 the year before and 17.4 in 2023.

Their reports that they cannot contain gender-based aggression in their classrooms requires urgent action from policymakers, NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack said, warning: “These pupils are the same boys and young men who will go on to be husbands, fathers, and colleagues in the workplace.”

Social media and artificial intelligence (AI) companies must be held responsible for misinformation spreading on their platforms, and face sanctions if they do not, said the union leader.

More than one in five of more than 5,000 teachers surveyed said they have been subject to sexist, racist or homophobic language from a pupil in the past year.

One respondent said a student had made naked images using AI of her and others, while others reported being called misogynistic names regularly and being meowed at by male students.

Another said that she faced misogyny on a daily basis, including abusive language.

“Have had boys joke about raping girls in front of me and laughed about it when challenged,” she said.

“Parents have told me if I can’t handle teenage boys then I need to ‘work in a f****** nursery’.”

The Department for Education insisted it is “committed to using every possible tool to achieve our mission of halving violence against women and girls.”