How grooming drama helps educate children at risk

Project

Working For Marcus

Funding

Around £1,000 to deliver the programme to a school year group

Background

Working for Marcus was first developed by educational theatre company Loudmouth in 1998 in response to concerns among health professionals about girls being drawn into sexual exploitation or prostitution. The company was commissioned by Walsall Health Authority to raise awareness among schoolchildren.

Demand for the programme has shot up in recent years amid growing awareness of the scale of child sexual exploitation. Working for Marcus is now one of Loudmouth's most popular initiatives and has reached more than 10,000 young people and professionals across the UK.

Action

Working for Marcus is typically delivered to 13- and 14-year-olds in year nine of secondary school but also runs in colleges, pupil referral units and youth centres.

The programme usually consists of a theatre performance followed by discussion and workshops. The 40-minute drama follows the story of 14-year-old Caz, who develops an online relationship with an older man called Marcus, then meets and moves in with him.

The audience watches the grooming process unfold and afterwards get the chance to quiz Caz and advise her how to get out of the situation. "They're often surprised this sort of thing is happening or spot some of the signs of grooming from their own experience or friends' relationships," says director Chris Cowan.

Pupils go on to explore the issues raised and examine the key stages of grooming. They learn strategies to help them stay safe and about local agencies they can turn to.

Schools are provided with 12 lesson plans, enabling them to revisit the issues. The drama is also used in a two-hour training programme for professionals including teachers, GPs, health visitors, social workers and police.

Outcome

Results from internal evaluation show the programme has improved knowledge and understanding of sexual exploitation. Feedback from 277 participants at six west Midands schools earlier this year shows that before the programme, 46 per cent described themselves as "confident" or "very confident" in spotting signs of sexual exploitation. This nearly doubled to 87 per cent after the programme.

Before 29 per cent said they knew "quite a lot" or "loads" about sexual exploitation but this went up to 84 per cent afterwards. The proportion able to identify three specialist support services increased from 50 to 95 per cent.

Working for Marcus has also sparked disclosures of sexual exploitation. After sessions at a college last year, 12 disclosures were made. Three were referred to the local safeguarding team and helped police identify a new ring of abusers.