MPs call on Ofsted and DfE to tackle sexual harassment in schools

A report by the women and equalities select committee states sexual harassment and violence are widespread across British schools.

But neither the schools inspectorate nor DfE have "a coherent plan to tackle this issue and to monitor the scale of the problem", said committee chair Maria Miller.

Too often teachers accept sexual harassment as "just banter" and parents are "struggling" to know how to address abuse of their children in school, Miller added.

"The government must take a lead and make it clear that sexual harassment in schools is completely unacceptable and support schools, teachers, parents and young people to tackle this widespread problem," she said.

Released today, the report cites research that found 29 per cent of 16- to 18-year-olds have experienced unwanted sexual touching at schools and 59 per cent of 13- to 21-year-olds had faced some form of sexual harassment at either school or college in the last year.

In addition, 71 per cent of 16- to 18-year-old pupils said they had heard derogatory terms such as "slut" or "slag" used towards female pupils on a regular basis.

The committee recommends the government introduce measures through the new Education for All Bill to ensure schools take action to prevent sexual violence and harassment backed by national guidance.

Ofsted should also prioritise how well schools are monitoring and dealing with incidents as well as assess their preventative measures.

Other recommendations include more funding for research into tackling sexual violence and harassment among children. Police also need to make specific note of whether reported incidents take place in schools.

MPs want to see the government's current review of initial teacher training cover tackling and preventing sexual violence and abuse. Government funding also needs to be available for schools to hire specialist support groups and charities to help them tackle the problem.

National Union of Teachers general secretary Kevin Courtney said schools need help from the government to better support victims and prevent incidents.

He added: "Support and guidance from the Department for Education about how to best mitigate the effects of sexual harassment and sexual violence is urgently required. Government needs to provide real leadership on this issue and widen their vision of the purpose of education."

The committee's report also backs long-standing calls from the children's sector to make sex and relationship education (SRE) statutory in all schools.

Jane Lees, chair of the Sex Education Forum, which is among those to campaign for compulsory SRE in schools, said: "There is no excuse for the government to ignore the overwhelming support for SRE among young people, parents, teachers, MPs and peers from across the political spectrum.

"The government must act on the committee's recommendations and make SRE a requirement in all schools."

A government spokesperson said: "Schools should be safe places and fortunately crime is rare but no young person should suffer harassment or violence. We trust teachers to promote a culture of tolerance in the classroom and to take swift action to deal with this sort of behaviour. This is backed up by mandatory sex and relationship education in all maintained secondary schools. We will consider the recommendations of this report carefully."