The Government has today refused to commit to a new strategy in
schools on issues of sexual harassment and gender-based violence
that is specifically aimed at engaging boys and young men,
despite calls in a recent report from MPs on the Women and
Equalities Committee.
The cross-party group of MPs’ inquiry on attitudes towards women
and girls in educational settings found that existing
relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in schools is less
engaging and applicable to boys than girls, despite boys and men
being most responsible for harm and abuse.
The Government’s response, published today, fails to engage with
recommendations by the Committee regarding its ongoing review of
the statutory guidance on RSHE, emphasising that it is still
“underway” and will be followed by a “full public consultation”.
However, there is no clear indication of what to expect in the
updated guidance for schools, including no Government commitment
to content on tackling violence against women and girls.
In its report, published in July, the Committee called on the
Government to commit to a number of improvements to RSHE
including additional resources for schools and mandatory RSHE in
post-16 education, a recommendation which is now under Government
consideration.
Also published today are Ofsted and the Office for Students
responses to the Committee’s report. Responding to MPs’
recommendation that Ofsted investigates the level of abuse
experienced by female teachers and staff, Ofsted has said that
this is not a “specific inspection focus” and that others are
better placed to address the issue.
While the Committee welcomes the progress made in the higher
education sector in tackling sexual harassment, both the
Government and Office for Students have failed to back bystander
intervention programmes as a requirement on campuses.
The Office for Students faced pressure from the Committee to
ensure universities provide compulsory bystander intervention
programmes, teaching students how to intervene if they witness
harassment, by strengthening the expectation it places on
universities.
Committee Chair, , said:
“Education is a powerful and necessary tool in preventing
violence against women and girls. Relationships, sex and health
education that continues past secondary school and that engages
proactively with boys and young men is crucial to combat harmful
attitudes in both educational settings and society at
large.
“It is disappointing the Government is refusing to take a
position on many of the issues raised in our report until it
publishes its long-awaited RSHE review. What we see today is a
lack of urgency and frankly women and girls have already waited
long enough for those in positions of authority to stand up for
them.”
