Brook’s initial statement on the government’s VAWG strategy

The government’s new 10-year strategy to address violence against women and girls (VAWG) places a huge emphasis on the role schools can play in tackling harmful attitudes and behaviours. Brook has witnessed first-hand an increase in misogyny in classrooms over recent years, while schools can often feel at a loss about how to tackle this. We welcome the government’s proposed investment in specialist training, as it is vital that teachers are empowered to engage young people in constructive and compassionate conversations about topics like consent and intimate image abuse.

What we do not yet know are the details of how many schools will benefit from this support, or how it will be rolled out. It remains to be seen whether the proposed £3 million for teacher training and £5 million for external providers will be sufficient to achieve the government’s ambition of equipping every secondary school in England to teach healthy relationships effectively by 2029.

Brook also firmly believes the further education sector has a key role to play in building a safer society for women and girls, so it is encouraging the Minister for Skills is exploring how mandatory Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) can be extended up to the age of 18. We urge the government to action this at the earliest opportunity and repeat our calls for an amendment to be introduced to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill in the new year.