Writing to Gillian Keegan, the Girlguiding Advocate Panel – a group of young Girlguiding members – requested “better quality relationships and sex education” to tackle violence against women and girls.
To achieve this, the panel has called on the Education Secretary and the government to:
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Renew the commitment to the delivery of RSE and aim for every young person to be learning about consent
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Publish guidance to help schools address sexual harassment and abuse
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Provide more support and training to teachers to improve confidence in leading discussions
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Support schools to adopt a school-wide approach to addressing sexual harassment
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Ensure schools use young people’s views to co-create and inform the RSE curriculum
The letter cited recent Girlguiding research which indicates only 36 per cent of children and young people aged 11 to 17 have learned about sexual consent at school, despite it being a mandatory part of the RSE curriculum.
The panel's letter states: “This shows clear inconsistencies in how RSE is being delivered across the country, leaving it unable to have the nationwide impact it needs to.
“We believe that comprehensive RSE is vital in the prevention of sexual harassment, providing it’s taught in an effective and impactful way. To allow young people to recognise unacceptable behaviour, RSE must include information and discussion around: sexual consent, healthy relationships and respect, online safety, violence against women and girls and gender stereotypes.”
The panel also emphasised the need for all RSE to be inclusive of LGBTQ+ relationships, those with special educational needs and disabilities, and experiences of girls from minority ethnic backgrounds.
The letter also cited Ofsted’s review into sexual harassment, published in June 2021, which exposed the normalisation of sexual harassment in schools, after Ofsted consulted with more than 900 pupils across 32 different schools about their experiences.
The Girlguiding panel has urged the government to fulfil its promises to address the issue which it made after the Ofsted review, saying: “Urgent action is needed now”.
This demand follows calls from others in the sector to tackle the growing problem of misogyny and sexual harassment in schools, including a new education toolkit which has been distributed throughout London schools to promote healthy relationships and prevent violence against women and girls.
This comes in advance of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November), which the United Nations’ UNiTE campaign will mark by encouraging people and organisations to engage with 16 days of activism.
The campaign this year will focus on mobilising all of society to become activists for the prevention of violence against women, and stand in solidarity with feminist activists and movements to resist the rollback on women’s rights.
