Preventing and responding to gender based violence: a whole school framework

Universal approaches to preventing GBV in schools

What are the key features of a universal approach to preventing GBV?

Education is key to prevention. Education on GBV should aim to:

• Keep children and young people safe
• Challenge views held by people across society which normalise GBV
• Enable children and young people to identify GBV if it occurs in their own relationships, both for those experiencing and those carrying out.

This can be achieved through:

1. A pro-active approach to embedding gender equality in school communities, which provides a strong foundation for targeted approaches.

2. All school policies should actively promote gender equality. The prevention of GBV will intersect with all areas of school life, such as uniform policy or subject choices.

3. Engagement and collaboration with children and young people, which can help school staff and leaders, and parents/carers, understand how children and young people experience GBV and how it affects them.

4. Everyone within each learning community, whatever their role may be, should contribute to creating a positive ethos and climate of equality, respect and trust.

5. School staff are supported through professional development, training and resources, to model gender equal practices and challenge problematic behaviours. This can include training on identifying GBV as well as specific supports for the mental health and wellbeing of education staff such as supervision.

6. A consideration of the likelihood that many children and young people and school staff will have had personal experience of GBV. Schools require to consider safety and be aware of relevant support for children and young people or staff where engagement with these issues causes distress or leads to disclosure.

7. School staff are informed and supported to access additional support available from within education, local authority services, and other organisations within the local community.

8. GBV policies and procedures should accord with legislation and the National Guidance for Child Protection, and be set within the framework of national education policy and GIRFEC, and be underpinned by the principles of the UNCRC.

What can prevent GBV?

If we are to prevent GBV, we need to change attitudes around gender, gender roles, and challenge those views held by people across society which normalise GBV. This requires a sustained approach. Research into what best supports this tells us that one-off, knowledge- building interventions (such as bystander trainings and myth busting) do not work on their own.

Such an approach includes challenging harmful ideas about masculinity when these are expressed by boys and young men. Equally Safe At School (ESAS) has information aboutengaging with boys and young men, and there are further resources in the Masculinities section of Appendix A.

Activities that work to create a culture which is preventative are those which:

• emphasise empathy and relationship building
• focus on role modelling behaviours
• are tailored to the context and community they are being delivered in
• are accessible, relatable, and positive
• are inclusive and share power
• embrace complexity, failure, and risk
• use a gendered lens
• are participatory
• are consistent in approach.

What action can schools take to prevent GBV?

There are several ways through which schools can work to address gender inequality and therefore GBV, including:

• School culture and ethos.
• Policies and systems.
• Professional learning and development.
• Curriculum.

School culture and ethos

Everyone within each learning community, whatever their role may be, should contribute towards creating a positive ethos and climate of equality, respect and trust – one in which children and young people feel that they are listened to, and are safe and secure in their ability to discuss sensitive aspects of their lives. The creation of such a culture may help to address barriers to the disclosure of GBV.

For gender equality to be fully embedded within a school’s culture and ethos, it’s important that messaging and practice across the school community is consistent. Messages, assemblies, and lessons promoting gender equality become ineffective, undermined and less trusted when children and young people continue to experience inequality in practice as they move through the school environment. It is therefore important for staff to model, and be supported to model, gender-equal practices and challenge inappropriate behaviour where and when it occurs. This will help foster a culture in which children and young people feel able to talk to staff about their concerns, giving them the confidence that views will be listened to, and any concerns raised will be acted upon in a timely manner.

Resources to support schools with universal approaches to GBV are included within Appendix A: Professional learning and resources.

Policies and Systems

A school’s policies and procedures should be regularly reviewed by senior leadership in accordance with the relevant local authority policy framework, to ensure they are designed, evaluated, and implemented in a way that actively promotes a gender equal culture.

“There’s a lot of double standards. Girls will be told off for wearing certain things but the boys aren’t told off for saying things about us.” Quote from young people’s group in Stirling

Care should be taken to communicate school values and relevant policies to all children and young people, staff, and the wider school community, and ensure they are implemented consistently and equally. Consideration should be given to the role that all policies play in enhancing or undermining a gender equal culture. For example, whether the rules on school uniform reinforce gender stereotypes or place undue restrictions on girls and young women, and whether girls and young women have equal access to sports activities, play, and resources.

“Uniform – no skin for girls, no make-up, length of skirt and amount of chest shown. Boys can do whatever.” Everyday Heroes: Gender Inequality and Societal Attitudes Report, pg.7

The Children’s Parliament report on Gender Equality in Education and Learning noted a strong emphasis on the importance of equal access to sports and play amongst girls and young women. The report highlighted that ‘there was a consensus’ among girls they spoke to ‘that girls are not able to participate fully in sport in the playground or in organised teams due solely to their gender.’ Girls felt that ‘boys physically held space within playground spaces that led to them being marginalised and being forced to play games that could fit around the edges of the play spaces.’ Schools should consider how to ensure that both boys and girls have equal access to sports, for example protecting time slots for girls to use equipment or spaces. Schools should be mindful of recommendations on safety in all school sports activities.^[3] School systems for monitoring and evaluation can be used to assess the extent to which a school is achieving gender equality (see Monitoring, recording and evaluation). School data, such as attainment, achievement or absences can also be reviewed to understand their relationship to gender and other characteristics. Care should be taken to ensure that the experiences of groups in a statistical minority in the setting are not ignored.

“On Friday, only people playing football are allowed to go on the astroturf, so it’s always the boys and that’s not fair. Boys don’t let the girls play on the playground.” Everyday Heroes: Gender Inequality and Societal Attitudes Report page 7

A school’s relationships and behaviour policy is core to communicating the school’s expectations of behaviour and how it will manage any situations which arise. A school may wish to develop a GBV section or aligned policy to provide specific information about how it will manage instances of GBV and support all those involved. This should be clear that matters such as GBV will be taken seriously and responded to appropriately.

Professional learning and development

To build an ethos that promotes gender equality, school staff need to be supported to reflect on their own beliefs, attitudes, and unconscious bias. Resources such as Improving Gender Balance Self-Evaluation can support this. Staff may also need support to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to create gender-equal learning environments, to engage children and young people in dialogue and to challenge negative attitudes and behaviour in relation to GBV. Professional learning opportunities are therefore important, and staff should be given appropriate time to engage with high quality professional learning and discussion spaces to reflect on their practice and how gender equality can be mainstreamed into their school environment and teaching.

Professional learning on GBV can include training, dedicated time at staff meetings, joint working groups with children and young people, and self-evaluation activities. Opportunities for professional learning are summarised in Professional Learning and Resources.

Curriculum

All aspects of the curriculum hold the potential to embed gender equality in the school setting and challenge the attitudes and behaviours which cause GBV.

The Improving Gender Balance and Equalities resources and research includes tools to help staff embed equality across the curriculum. Gender equality can be promoted across curricular areas in a variety of ways, for example, by taking a non-gendered and inclusive approach to PE, discussing gender stereotypes in texts, asking whose voice has not been heard in novels, by learning about feminism and women’s rights in social subjects, or by considering whether children and young people are being encouraged to learn about a diverse range of women artists/scientists as well as their often more famous white men counterparts. School leadership should ensure that all staff are given time and resources to appropriately consider teaching and learning approaches that promote gender equality.

Some ideas from children and young people which would help to create a positive school culture and ethos:

• School sports activities should be accessible to both boys and girls whenever possible, including more opportunities for girls to play football and boys to play netball
• All children should be able to learn any subject
• All members of a school community should not make stereotypical remarks or statements about gender
• Maths questions shouldn’t say girls do skipping and boys kick a ball
• P.E. should be equal
• Uniforms should be gender equal and equally enforced
• Make sure children are listened to about gender equality
• Teachers should treat all children the same
• Children should treat each other the same

Ideas suggested by East Renfrewshire primary school pupils

Staff can also challenge cultural perceptions of what are traditionally considered to be ‘girls’ or boys’ subjects,’ and where barriers might lie to subject choice and learner pathways for children and young people of different genders. This does not always mean treating children and young people of all genders the same all the time. The Children’s Parliament report on Gender Equality in Education noted that “while the secondary school girls reported that schools and teachers do not restrict their choices, they said that they feel unable to take subjects such as Engineering as they are intimidated by boys in these classes,” but that “if this behaviour was called out, then the girls would love to take these subjects.” Staff can develop awareness of how their classroom interactions might reinforce gender roles and behaviours.

Opportunities for personal achievement, clubs and activities, and school trips can also be examined to see if these are fully inclusive. Fuller exemplification of gender equality approaches are available for early years, primary and secondary settings (see Appendix A: Professional Learning and Resources).

The Health and Wellbeing organiser of the Curriculum for Excellence offers particular opportunities to support the prevention of GBV. The Experiences and Outcomes within Responsibility of All and Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) education offer opportunities to support children and young peoples’ learning and understanding of issues around GBV that are age and stage appropriate, through topics such as healthy relationships, power in relationships and consent. This includes understanding what to do if children and young people need support or have experienced abuse. The Scottish Government has published guidance on key messages on healthy relationships and consent for young people.

School staff can embed education on healthy relationships and consent using a range of resources and programmes.

“Children and young people need to be taught about the emotional side of sex. If you don’t feel safe or whatever, you need to know that’s not ok.” Everyday Heroes: Service Responses Report, page 9

Applying trauma-informed practice

Applying trauma-informed practice Being ‘trauma-informed’ means being able to recognise when someone may be affected by trauma, collaboratively adjusting ways of working to take this into account and responding in a way that supports recovery, does no harm, and recognises and supports people’s resilience.

Five key principles underlie trauma-informed practice. These are: safety, trust, choice, collaboration, and empowerment.

It is important to be aware that many children and young people (see What causes GBV?) as well as staff (see Responding to GBV experienced by a member of staff) may have experience of GBV, often combined with other forms of inequality or discrimination. In discussing such topics, schools need to consider safety and be aware of relevant support services should children and young people, or staff, disclose personal experiences or where engagement with these issues has brought up difficult feelings or memories for them. This may include:

• letting children and young people know in advance that GBV will be discussed;
• make sure that children and young people know what will happen if they make a disclosure relating to GBV;
• establish an expectation at the beginning of any group activity that the purpose is to discuss issues, rather than personal experiences or anecdotes about others;
• agreeing strategies for what they can do if they feel upset;
• creating a space for discussion that makes clear how inappropriate or hurtful comments will be dealt with from the start;
• ensuring they have a safe alternative space where they can speak about their experiences;
• signposting to services and helplines where they can seek support independently after the discussion. If there is a child protection referral in place, this should only be done following discussion with the core agency taking forward.

Some behaviours which can appear challenging may in fact be survival or coping mechanisms that are triggered in the face of a perceived threat (including discussing the topic of GBV). This could include disinterest, lack of motivation, lack of trust, hostility, aggression, or resistance to receiving support. Through the consistent communication of empathy, warmth, respect and hope, school staff can provide powerful, corrective, relational experiences.

To help facilitate conversations in a way which feels safe for everyone involved, the United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) has produced guidance on discussing GBV within a school context.

It is imperative that children and young people are made aware of child protection information sharing procedures so that they know they have a safe space with a trusted adult to whom they can bring their concerns. If a member of school staff has concerns that a child is at risk of significant harm, they should follow the school’s child protection protocols, regardless of whether disclosure of a GBV incident has been made. Children and young people should be aware that staff may have an obligation to share this information with professionals to ensure their safety and wellbeing.

School leadership should also consider how best to support the wellbeing of staff who are responding to traumatic incidents. This could include considering what support might be available through the local authority for employees. All local authorities have health and wellbeing policies and offer a wide range of support for staff. Grant-aided and independent school employers may also have support available to employees.