The Catholic Church is abdicating its responsibility for children's welfare by refusing to target homophobic bullying in schools, a teachers' leader said.The Church rejected calls from ministers for every school - including England's 2,100 Catholic state schools - to have a policy on tackling homophobic bullying in the playground.
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT union, condemned the Church's stance.
As teachers gathered for a conference in Birmingham on combating prejudice, she said: "Their resistance to homophobic bullying policies fails to understand that young children, regardless of their sexuality, can be victims of homophobic bullying.
"They fail to see that it destroys children's education and wider life chances.
"The Catholic Church is abdicating its responsibility to look after the health and well-being of youngsters."
Ms Keates said one in five teenagers reports being a victim of homophobic bullying.
There is evidence that some bright 16-year-olds were being turned off education because they were the victims of such abuse at school, she said.
Youngsters do not have to be gay or lesbian to become the targets of bullies. Children can be taunted and called "gay" for their behaviour, appearance or mannerisms, she said.
"I would have thought that any school, including ones run by the Catholic Church, would need policies that discourage that kind of behaviour," she said.
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