Sexual harassment and abuse of female students and staff a serious problem in education - Women & Equalities Committee

[IwantToRetire]

The Women and Equalities Committee finds that sexual harassment and sexual violence continues to be a scourge in schools in a new report published today. The Committee says it is saddening that Ofsted and the schools they inspect only acknowledged the seriousness of the sexual violence problem in schools following public testimonies of thousands of school-aged children, referring to the Everyone’s Invited movement.

Whilst Ofsted did not act quickly enough in undertaking its 2021 review, the Committee welcomes its conclusions and calls on the Government to ensure that all schools have the funding they require to safeguard children and young people effectively. It also asks Ofsted to investigate the level of abuse experienced by female staff in schools as part of its inspections.

The Committee calls for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) be made compulsory in sixth forms and colleges. The Committee concludes that the current lack of compulsory RSHE post-16 leaves young people making their first steps in the adult world under-supported and less equipped to navigate potentially harmful and dangerous situations.

The Committee also asks the Government, as part of its RHSE review, to develop a specific strategy for engaging with boys and young men in schools on topics of sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Evidence to the inquiry suggested current relationships and sex education is less applicable and engaging for boys. It also found some schools were not sufficiently promoting gender equality or acknowledging the problem of violence against women and girls.

The Committee highlights the role of education in preventing violence against women and girls. It calls for a RSHE curriculum that places a greater focus on boys and young men. It says there should be training for all teachers how to engage boys and young men in conversations that challenge prevailing gender norms and ideas of masculinity.

The Committee says the delivery of RSHE in primary and secondary schools has been inconsistent. The report says, “in too many cases, schools lack the funding and time to deliver RSHE effectively”. MPs call for further funding and support from the Government for teachers. It also highlights that any developments in policy, as a result of the RHSE review, should support effectively the Government’s commitment to tackling sexual harassment and violence in schools and colleges.

https://committees.parliament.uk/work/6738/attitudes-towards-women-and-girls-in-educational-settings/news/196197/sexual-harassment-and-abuse-of-female-students-and-staff-a-serious-problem-in-education-find-mps/

Report in full https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmwomeq/331/report.html

How depressing.

I have started to think that if I was currently looking for a school for my daughters I would choose an all girls school.

Well they could start by binning off external groups with the rse. Of course its going to be inconsistent when you outsource it to a bunch of people who are more interested in using the.kids to validate adult choices and lifestyles than making sure the children are learning what they should be with regards to their bodies and friendships amd future relationships.

And of course they could also start by rebuilding the boundaries they have removed. You can't teach kids they are entitled to everything amd anything they want then wonder why they don't have any concept of appropriate behaviour. We need to look at what the adults are modelling.

We are so busy trying to pretend there are no differences between men amd women/boys and girls to validate agendas we are ignoring their individual needs and learning styles.

And if course girls are being policed to control the behaviour boys. Never mind skirt lengths and skinny trousers. You can't just pretend problems.dont exist by placing the responsibility on others to hide it from the adults.

So depressing

I can't see how education and awareness would change anything. Surely what is needed is rules and enforcement.
What are headteachers expected to do about phones?

They should also enforce single sex toilets and changing rooms in schools, that would be a start.

I'm not sure RSE can fix the problem. RSE should be monitored and standardised and definitely should cover violence against women and girls.

But I don't think the problem is lack of education. They know they are wrong to treat women and girls this way they just don't care or that's part of their enjoyment.

We need a generation of real effort. Punishment and jail time for sexual violence among adults. Stop excuses for it among kids. Teach these boys they won't get away with it.

Stop expecting predominantly female teachers to sort the boys out. Fathers need to step up and teach this.... but I guess the fathers of these kids are too busy treating women badly to parent properly

Rules and enforcement is a good point. I retired from school teaching ten years ago, but from the early 2000s onwards there was a marked increase in sexually explicit speech and behaviour, with overt physicality and an undercurrent of rough play between both boys and girls, that one hadn’t seen before. I expressed concerns and asked SLT to bring back the “no physical contact” rule that had previously been generally confirmed to. They didn’t see the problem (probably because they didn’t do regular indoor duties along corridors and locker bays) and nothing was done. They were genuinely not interested as well as blind. At the time I thought reality TV such as Big Brother and its successors had some influence, but of course there was also the increasing availability of Internet access via smartphones.

Conformed to not confirmed!

Agree with a PP that it's not about education, it's about enforcement. There needs to be a no tolerance culture to any sexual harassment in schools, but seeing as schools struggle to expel kids for outright violence I don't know how they would manage.

As @borntobequiet says, some of this is in the hands of schools to manage. RSHE is not the panacea to these issues - just a small part of it. Outside organisations shouldn't be training over this- you just get the same self interested grifters with their own agendas causing havoc - just as we've seen with trans / queer theory groups in schools.

If you want to change behaviour in schools, then you do it through shared values, effective systems, good role models, great teaching that keeps children focussed & intelligent pastoral care / support systems that reinforce positive attitudes to learning, respecting the rights & boundaries of others and self awareness. You make it possible by having every adult onside & modelling this.

And dealing with outside influences means parents playing their part as well. I know it sounds idealistic but when you visit genuinely good / outstanding schools with strong values, you can see that most kids adapt well.

They're right about the seriousness of the issue but (as ever with Nokes) clueless about how to influence change. It means looking at ourselves as adults, social media and what we value and "allow" children to be influenced by.

Btw, Nokes is a politician looking to regain some credibility after using her power to sell women down the river for so long. Wrong side of history and all that.

Education can't fix this alone. When we see celebrities and politicians excusing abusive behaviour. When Love Island is seen as one of the most popular programmes. This issue is society wide and burrowed in deep. Proper sentencing would help a lot. But that's just of the stuff that gets to trial. CPS looking at the guidelines for what can go to trial might help. Women aren't valued.

I cant see how schools can teach that certain behaviours and attitudes are wrong when society as a whole is not only accepting them, but promoting them as normal.