The issue of sexual violence and harassment in schools is much bigger than most of us imagined.
In a recent article written for Tes News, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, Geoff Barton, illustrates that “sexual harassment is a feature of every school and every college”. The article summarises the findings of a recent Ofsted report into the issue:
“Inspectors revealed how prevalent sexual harassment and online sexual abuse is in the world that our children and young people inhabit. For many of them, incidents are so commonplace that they see no point in reporting them.”
Barton discusses how the gathering testimonies on the site Everyone’s invited have “morphed into something much more widespread”.
According to Ofsted inspectors:
- "Nearly 90 per cent of girls and nearly 50 per cent of boys said that being sent explicit pictures or videos of things they did not want to see happens a lot or sometimes to them or their peers.
- Children and young people said that sexual harassment occurs so frequently that it has become “commonplace”. For example, 92 per cent of girls and 74 per cent of boys said that sexist name-calling happens a lot or sometimes to them or their peers.
- The frequency of these harmful sexual behaviours means that some children and young people consider them normal."
In our free guide we look at the preventative strategies your school can use and the subjects your PSHE curriculum should focus on to create a whole-school ethos that doesn't tolerate sexual violence or harassment.
What can schools do?
The main message of the Ofsted report is that we should start from the assumption that sexual harassment is a feature of every school and every college.
While Barton suggests, “this is not a problem that schools and colleges alone can solve,” he highlights four key areas that demand leaders’ attention:
- “The teaching of relationships, sex and health education. We have a fledgling curriculum that needs to move centre stage. We need to learn how the most successful schools teach its content in a way that is relevant, meaningful and has a lasting impact on young people.
- The culture of our schools and colleges, and the sanctions that are there to respond to any incident of sexual harassment or abuse.
- The systems we have so that reporting an issue is something that pupils believe has positive consequences.
- Ways of helping parents to understand their responsibilities for regulating the online conduct of their child.”
You’ll find more guidance on how to tackle a culture of sexual violence and harassment in your school in our free guide 3 steps to creating a school environment where sexual violence and harassment aren’t tolerated.
This blog has been created from the Tes News article ‘Sex abuse in schools is an issue that shames us all’ by Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders.