- MPs call for specific Government strategy for engaging with boys and young men in schools on topics of sexual harassment and gender-based violence as part of RHSE review
- Relationships and sex education should be made compulsory in post-16 educational settings
- Committee calls for sufficient funding and support for teachers to deliver safeguarding effectively as well as RSHE
The Women and Equalities Committee finds that sexual harassment and sexual violence continues to be a scourge in schools in a new report published today. The Committee says it is saddening that Ofsted and the schools they inspect only acknowledged the seriousness of the sexual violence problem in schools following public testimonies of thousands of school-aged children, referring to the Everyone’s Invited movement.
Whilst Ofsted did not act quickly enough in undertaking its 2021 review, the Committee welcomes its conclusions and calls on the Government to ensure that all schools have the funding they require to safeguard children and young people effectively. It also asks Ofsted to investigate the level of abuse experienced by female staff in schools as part of its inspections.
The Committee calls for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) be made compulsory in sixth forms and colleges. The Committee concludes that the current lack of compulsory RSHE post-16 leaves young people making their first steps in the adult world under-supported and less equipped to navigate potentially harmful and dangerous situations.
