Zero tolerance

In the wake of the media attention from Everyone’s Invited the Ofsted Review of Sexual Abuse in schools and colleges shone a light on an area that young people, their advocates, researchers, the regulator itself and the Department for Education have been highlighting for several years: sexual abuse and harassment, particularly of girls and minority groups, has become normalised in our society. We welcome the attention given to this area and the strong action focus being brought by both Government and the regulators.

It is one thing to highlight an issue, quite another to tackle it. Sexual abuse and an objectification culture are two complicated areas that require thought and care to address. The change required here is cross-cutting, societal and cannot be accomplished within one area/provision in a young person’s life.

Keeping Children Safe in Education now requires schools and colleges to include “a statement which makes clear there should be a zero-tolerance approach to abuse” (para 145) in their child protection policies. This article seeks to clarify how settings might meet this duty and avoid an arbitrary response which may in practice increase the barriers to disclosure and risks to young people. Such a response would risk undermining the work to date on exclusions, minimises the impact of sexual abuse to a catch-phrase and most importantly risks increasing the pressures on young people who may have been harmed.

We certainly need a paradigm shift. In their damning report Ofsted highlighted a 'normalised' culture of sexual assault and sexual harassment where students tell us staff do not know the reality of their lives. They found senior leaders consistently under-estimated the size of the issue in their setting - not recognising the problem or downplaying reports. Around 9 in 10 girls & young women said sexist name calling and being sent unwanted explicit pictures or videos happened ‘a lot’ or ‘sometimes'. Boys talk about whose ‘nudes’ they have and share them among themselves like a ‘collection game’, typically on platforms like WhatsApp or Snapchat. Such behaviours exist in a national culture of the sexualisation of women and girls, high levels of domestic abuse and where the majority of men are reported to access pornographic sites.

Young people don't report their concerns because:

• they are not seen as abnormal;
• of the impact on their reputation;
• they may be socially ostracised;
• they fear Police intervention;
• they don't know what will happen next.

The report recommends:

• Development of a culture that recognises and addresses all kinds of sexual harassment.
• Proper sequencing of the RSHE curriculum with high quality teacher training.
• Improved engagement between interagency partners and schools, in particular around Police intervention or when there is no prosecution.
• Routine record keeping and analysis to observe trends and patterns.
• Tightening up of the forthcoming Online Safety Bill.
• A guide for young people on what happens if they talk to staff.
• A national campaign on sexual harassment and abuse.
• A more robust approach to inspection of these issues, in particular ensuring they follow up where schools report no incidences of sexual harassment.

On a setting by setting basis we should ensure we:

• assume it is happening here and plan accordingly.
• whole school/college approach to developing a safeguarding culture.
• staff model respectful behaviour.
• children and young people are clear about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, as are staff.
• people are confident to ask for help.
• systems are in place and they are well promoted, easily understood and easily accessible so that children can report abuse.
• carefully planned and implemented RSHE curriculum.
• a behavioural approach with sanctions & interventions for poor behaviour.
• support for learners who need it, including those who are harming others.
• training & clear expectation for staff and governors.
• listen to pupil voice.
• provide protected time for DSLs to engage with local safeguarding partners.
• all follow the guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education.

It is interesting that the report comments on children and young people's wider experience online and in social settings outside of education while the report was titled sexual abuse in schools & colleges. Our education settings, rightly or wrongly, are being held accountable for a problem that extends across society and with a dearth of other agencies well-placed to support young people at an early stage. Even so, there are many areas where schools and colleges have been found wanting, young people's experience in many situations is desperate and we will all want to improve. Culture development is not something done to societies and schools and colleges are well-placed with committed staff who can enlist the support of young people as a group in the development of safe spaces and develop the confidence to hold each other to account.