Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with teachers on recent trends in the level of (a) misogynistic and (b) violent attitudes towards women and girls expressed by boys in education settings.

As set out in the government’s Plan for Change, the Safer Streets Mission aims to reduce serious harm and increase public confidence in policing and in the criminal justice system. Integral to this is the ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The department plays an important role in delivering that ambition.

The relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, currently under review, is designed to provide a comprehensive basis, from primary school onwards, for building respectful, healthy relationships, recognising prejudice and the impact of stereotypes, and understanding what counts as harmful or abusive behaviour. The guidance is clear that schools should be alive to issues such as everyday sexism, misogyny, homophobia and gender stereotypes and take positive action to build a culture where these are not tolerated, and any occurrences are identified and tackled. The RSHE curriculum is supported by teacher training modules available online.

The department’s Ministers and officials engage regularly with school staff and their representative bodies on a wide range of issues, including on the behaviour of pupils and students. As part of the work to review the current RSHE statutory guidance, we have been discussing with stakeholders and are planning further engagement directly with teachers.

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