Schools abuse attitudes ‘need to be challenged’
AN ATTITUDE of “boys will be boys” has helped drive a culture of sexual violence and harassment in Britain’s schools, Halton councillors have been told.
The authority’s Children, Young People, Families Policy and Performance Board were given a briefing on a raft of new measures being delivered in Halton in response to a national campaign to shine a light on sexual violence and sexual harassment (SVSH) in schools across the country.
The measures include providing safeguarding support, training and materials to all schools in Halton to enable them to identify and respond to allegations of sexual violence and sexual harassment both in and out of school, including incidents which occur online.
The move was prompted after a national Ofsted review was launched following thousands of disclosures on the website Everyone’s Invited about sexual harassment and sexual violence involving schools and universities.
The review resulted in a number of recommendations which will now be taken forward in Halton and across the country.
Delivering a presentation on the new measures, Ben Holmes, safeguarding children in education officer at Halton Council, called the Ofsted review “harrowing”.
He said that nine in 10 girls and young women had experienced some sort of sexual violence or harassment during their education and that boys were trading nude images “like a trading card collection”, behaviours which he said had “become normalised and embedded”.
He added that previous generations had often turned a blind eye to inappropriate behaviour, dismissing it as a case of “boys will be boys”, but that these attitudes needed to be challenged.
Mr Holmes - a former headteacher - told the meeting at Runcorn Town Hall: “There has to be an acknowledgement that it could happen here, and actually it could well be happening here, and if we haven’t had any allegations made within the last 12 months then we have to be able to hold that mirror up and say is it because we’ve missed something, and if we have, how can we ensure that we can improve our reporting systems so that children can feel confident and that there is that zero tolerance approach.”
He added: “No more will those behaviours be accepted, they will be challenged and that by challenging them time and time again, and making sure that it doesn’t become further embedded and engrained in our society. That’s where the change will happen.”