The Home Office has been working with the Personal, Social,
Health and Economic (PSHE) Association and teachers to
create new and improved school curriculum materials on
knife crime ahead of the summer holidays.
Today (5 June 2019) 20,000 PSHE teachers were sent new
lesson plans that will further equip them to challenge
myths and communicate to their pupils the realities of
carrying a knife.
Aimed at children aged between 11 and 16 years old, the
hour-long lessons have been created in partnership with the
PSHE Association and developed based on feedback from
teachers.
Lesson plans feature real-life case studies of young people
from the latest #knifefree campaign along with new content
on the importance of having good role models.
, Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and
Vulnerability said:
Early intervention is a key part of our Serious Violence
Strategy and it’s vital that we give young people the
tools and resilience to keep themselves safe over the
summer holidays.
I’m pleased that our current lessons on knife crime have
proved successful and that we are able to strengthen them
even further, and I’d like to thank every teacher who has
taken the time to deliver them.
The lessons explore how role models can influence young
people’s attitudes, decisions and behaviour in positive
ways and signpost young people towards support services and
the #knifefree website. They also include the true story of
Dean, a teenager who was arrested for carrying a knife but
managed to turn his life around through meeting James, a
worker at a local support centre.
The new lesson plans are a welcome addition to the current
PSHE syllabus after a series of lessons on knife possession
were introduced last year.
Jonathan Baggaley, PSHE Association Chief Executive said:
We are pleased to build on the popular #knifefree PSHE
teaching resources we produced with the Home Office last
year.
These new materials are designed to challenge inaccurate
perceptions about knife crime, help young people develop
the confidence to resist pressure to carry knives, and to
recognise positive role models. We encourage all schools
to download and deliver these free materials.
Current lessons on knife crime that were developed by the
Home Office and the PSHE Association have been downloaded
over 14,000 times since they were introduced in July last
year.
This action follows a recent relaunch of the #knifefree
campaign, which aims to discourage teenagers from carrying
knives through sharing real-life stories.
In addition to the government’s ongoing engagement with
schools and youth organisations, the Home Office has
appointed the charitable foundation Impetus to manage its
£200 million Youth Endowment Fund to help prevent young
people being drawn into a life of crime and violence.
The Home Office also has a £22 million Early Intervention
Youth Fund which is already supporting 29 projects in
England and Wales.
