NASUWT - the largest teachers' union in the UK - will be voting on the recommendations later today in its annual conference which is being held in Belfast this week.

Northern Ireland NASUWT president Fred Brown explained in recent years the body had become concerned about the number of malicious and vexatious accusations made by pupils and parents against teachers and other workers in education.

He said false accusations, no matter how small, could have devastating effects on teachers' reputations and that the union would be pressing for changes to be made in the law to better protect them.

"When an allegation is made, especially one that involves an assault, a teacher is suspended while the investigation is carried out," he explained.

"Their name gets in the paper and people assume they are guilty. It doesn't matter if they are proven to be innocent, their reputation has been damaged.

"I know of teachers who have been cleared of any wrongdoing that have committed suicide because of the stress that an allegation has on them.

" We believe changes need to be made to the law to protect teachers."

One of the changes the union will be pressing for is the expulsion of pupils who have made false allegations.

The union also wants to make parents pay for any court costs incurred by the school or the public purse for investigations.

Mr Brown explained this course of action was necessary to protect both the teacher and the pupil and referred to an incident in Lisburn when a schoolgirl who made a false claim of indecent assault against her teacher was allowed to return to the school.

All 53 teachers at Laurelhill Community College went on strike over the incident.

"This girl went on to make further allegations," he said.

"The child should have been removed from the school. It is very difficult for a teacher to come back to teach when their accuser is still there. It is also difficult for other teachers to teach them knowing that this child has made false allegations.

"If an allegation has been proven false then that child should be removed and their new school should be made aware of what happened. Knowledge of past behaviour is the best protection."