Over the last few years, a seismic shift has occurred across safeguarding in education. There has been a rapid recognition of the scale of sexual misconduct and harassment in UK schools and the urgent need to tackle this. Thousands of testimonies from young people were shared on the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ website, which triggered Ofsted’s rapid review into sexual abuse UK schools. In 2021, Ofsted found that sexual harassment occurs so frequently it has become ‘commonplace’. As a result of these findings, and subsequent changes to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) schools now need to ensure they are able to show that they are able to identify and respond appropriately to cases of sexual misconduct and harassment, including child-on child abuse, and importantly, take steps to prevent these incidences from occurring in the first place.
The Government made Relationships and Sex Education mandatory in 2019/20. LimeCulture believes RSE has a key role in preventing sexual misconduct and harassment. If delivered well, RSE programmes can be used to effectively address or challenge harmful attitudes and beliefs, tackle myths, stereotypes and misconceptions. We believe that RSE provides a golden opportunity to teach young people about the importance of consent, what constitutes a healthy relationship, and importantly, how young people can access support.
However, according to data published by the Sex Education Forum published in March 2023, and three years since the Government made RSE mandatory, only 40% of young people age 16 and 17 rate their lessons as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ and nearly one in five (18%) still say their in-school RSE is ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’. Students report that they don’t learn enough about today’s most pressing issues, including pornography (58%), LGBTQ+-relevant information (54%), and healthy relationships (54%).
This is simply not good enough and means that schools and colleges are missing an important opportunity to change perceptions and challenge attitudes and behaviours. Our young people know the issues they are facing and want to be better prepared. So why is it that our schools’ RSE programmes seem to be falling short ?
At LimeCulture we think the reason is two-fold: Firstly, many schools are not listening to the views and experiences of young people or including their voice in the design of their RSE curriculum; Second, our teachers or those responsible for delivering RSE do not always feel well equipped or confident in teaching young people about sensitive topics, such as sexual misconduct and harassment.
In order to tackle the above problems, LimeCulture has developed a Preventing Sexual Misconduct in Education (PSME) Programme for young people in Key Stage 3, 4 and 5. We have also recently developed a SEND package that provides adapted materials for young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Maria Putz ,Head of Safeguarding in Education said:
“Engaging with young people has been central to the development of LimeCulture’s PSME packages for Key Stages 3, 4, 5 and SEND. We asked a range of young people at different key stages to tell us what they want and need from their RSE lessons, and crucially we really listened to what they were telling us!
We wanted to ensure that our PSME Programmes can empower young people and provide them with information that can assist them to make safer choices. So to do that successfully, we felt that it was important for the Programmes to focus on the issues that young people think are dealing with today or might have to deal with tomorrow. The young people we engaged with have helped us to develop content that is engaging, relevant and practical for them.
The young people we engaged with told us they wanted a safe space to talk about tricky issues and subjects that they believe are important. As such, our PSME programmes don’t shy away from some of the more sensitive topics and instead, tackle them head-on by asking young people to explore and discuss their views, and think differently about specific scenarios that are could be involved in”
In seeking to better prepare and support teachers who don’t feel well equipped to teach young people about sexual misconduct, LimeCulture has developed our PSME Programmes by using a ‘Train the Teacher’ approach. Maria explains:
“Our Train the Teacher approach means that we don’t hand over our PSME Programmes to schools until we know that their teachers are able to deliver them properly. Our highly experienced and skilled trainers spend time helping teachers to better understand sexual misconduct and harassment and its impact, give them tools and and flexible resources to engage with young people and the issues they are facing. Essentially, we train the teachers before they go on to deliver the PSME Programmes to young people themselves.
We have found that this approach gives teachers the confidence and confidence to talk about sensitive topics with young people. We provide teachers with the factual information and resources to use to engage young people effectively. Our trainers help teachers to feel better equipped to sensitively manage discussions effectively and sensitively challenge any misconceptions or potentially harmful beliefs.”
LimeCulture’s PSME Programme includes a step-by-step guide for teachers and flexible resources and tools for them to use as part of their school’s RSE curriculum. Recent feedback from teachers in Cheshire include:
“A really engaging course delivered by professionals who have vast knowledge on the subject. LimeCulture provided us with plenty of food for though and ways to tackle issues within our school. I feel much more confident about teaching young people about this subject now”
“The resources provided were clear and useful. The LimeCulture trainers were approachable, informative and fun. It is the best course I have taken part in. Thank you”
LimeCulture’s ‘Preventing Sexual Misconduct Education’ (PSME) programmes have been developed to provide teachers – and those delivering Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) – with the confidence and competence to engage with young people in Key Stage 3, 4 & 5 (ages 11-18) about consent, healthy relationships, sexual misconduct, body confidence, equality, and the legal framework as part of the RSE curriculum. These prevention programmes have been developed to allow flexibility in delivery through bite size sessions, with step-by-step guides, resources, and tools to support those delivering. For further information please contact schoolsandcolleges@limeculture.co.uk