A CALL to remove all asbestos from Scottish schools and other educational establishments was backed by delegates at the conference yesterday.

Ken Brown, from East Dunbartonshire, said that 13,000 schools across the UK had been built during the period when asbestos was heavily used in construction.

Exposure could cause the incurable illness mesothelioma and fibres could be released from something as simple as piercing a board with drawing pins, he said.

However, few teachers had asked for details about the risks in their own school. He challenged delegates, “What is your room’s asbestos record, where is your school’s asbestos map?”

The conference also backed a call for the union to campaign to ensure that the Control of Asbestos at Work regulations were implemented in all schools.

Violence in the classroom was also highlighted, with delegates backing motions calling on the union to revise and update its advice to members and to campaign for better support for teachers returning to work after attacks.

Willie Hart, from Glasgow, said that all too often he had to deal with colleagues “at their wits’ end” over violence. It would be tempting to give in to despair, but that would mean letting down the staff and pupils whose lives had been blighted.

Larry Flanagan, also from Glasgow, spoke of how “damaging and demoralising” it was to work in a school where violence was happening, not only physical violence but also abusive language.

“We want to shut that out of schools,” he said.

Renfrewshire delegate Olwen McGarvey noted the “stress and humiliation” of being assaulted by a child and then having to return to class, possibly even teaching the attacker.

She gave an example of one school where teachers filled in 19 violence reports in one session, but cautioned that all too often when these reports were submitted to education departments they “disappeared into statistics.”

The misuse of camera-equipped mobile phones was raised by Kevin O’Brien from East Dunbartonshire, who said that incidents involving teachers were being placed on the internet.

Delegates backed his call for the union to come up with more detailed policies on the use of mobile phones.

A motion for the EIS to campaign to end homophobic bullying also won approval. Kay Barnett, from Aberdeenshire, noted that fewer than half of education authorities specifically mentioned homophobia in anti-bullying policies.

Andy Heron, of North Lanarkshire, said he had heard of one gay pupil being told by a senior teacher he had been “stupid” to admit his sexuality. He told the conference, “Homophobic bullying must be dealt with the same way as racism.”