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

Monitoring, recording and evaluation

Purpose of collecting data

It is important that schools and local authorities have clear policies and procedures in place to record, monitor and address any incidents of GBV no matter how minor they may appear. Effective recording and monitoring help to establish the scale and nature of GBV within the school, and is a key part of evaluating the impact of efforts to prevent and respond to GBV.

Evidence shows staff can have concerns about recording behaviours on children and young people’s school records for fear of labels being attached to them. However, accurate recording of GBV behaviours helps to ensure that appropriate action is taken to address these behaviours, provide appropriate support, and prevent further incidents. It enables the school to track whether there are patterns of abuse or harassment which may have a cumulative impact on the person(s) experiencing GBV, or which require more targeted interventions for the individual(s) carrying out GBV, or as part of a whole-school approach. Furthermore, recording protected characteristics relevant to a GBV incident enables the identification of trends related to intersectional inequalities, and helps to develop actions to address them, through disaggregated data.

In line with self-evaluation this approach will provide evidence to support consideration of quality indicators within How Good is Our School 4, in particular, QI 3.1 and 2.1

Recording incidents of GBV

Schools will have their own reporting and recording systems connected to their local authority system or as a grant-aided or independent school. When a staff member receives a disclosure about GBV, their primary focus will be to follow their school’s protocols, including making sure the child or young person making the disclosure is safe, arranging appropriate support for them, and following local and National Child Protection guidance without delay.

In many cases, the recording of GBV incidents is the responsibility of school leadership or a named practitioner, usually referred to as a ‘Designated Member of Staff’. It is essential, therefore, that school staff, children, and young people are informed about the process and feel empowered to take any incidents through the appropriate channels. School staff should be adequately informed of the details they are expected to provide to the person responsible for recording, which will be related to the content of the schools’ recording system. All personal data and special category personal data should be processed in accordance with data protection legislation. The Data Protection Act 2018 states relevant personal information can be shared lawfully if it is to keep a child or individual at risk safe from neglect or physical, emotional or mental harm, or if it is protecting their physical, mental, or emotional well-being.

What incidents should be recorded and how?

If a behaviour is covered by the definition of GBV provided in this framework, it should be recorded in the Bullying and Equalities module of SEEMiS, or under an equivalent section of a schools’ recording system. If there is a child protection concern, the incident should be recorded in accordance with child protection procedures. If the person recording the incident is unsure how to access or use the Bullying and Equalities module, they can contact their local authority who will provide assistance.

All incidents of GBV should be recorded. This includes incidents where:

• The behaviour is not directed at anyone specifically, e.g. children and young people may ‘banter’ about sexual assault.
• The behaviour is witnessed or overheard by staff rather than being disclosed.
• The behaviour is carried out by a visitor to the school, e.g. someone paints sexually explicit graffiti on the school building.

The Bullying and Equalities Module should not be interpreted as being focused solely on bullying; it is designed to capture a range of behaviours related to equalities, and includes ‘GBV’ as a category. GBV behaviours should be captured in this section regardless of the type of behaviour and whether a disclosure has been made directly.

Information included in the record can include:

• Who reported the incident
• Date/time/place of incident
• Details of both the person experiencing and the person displaying GBV behaviour
• Nature of Incident, for example GBV
• Any relevant protected characteristics
• If there is not a child protection concern, more detailed information about the disclosure can be included in the Pastoral Notes section of the record, if this would be helpful to understand the particular circumstances.

Where possible, the content of this record should be agreed with the child or young person. In cases where the recording system does not allow for this level of detail, and monitoring, schools may want to review their systems.

Where GBV has an element of discrimination or abuse based on another protected characteristic, this should be recorded as part of the incident report. SEEMiS enables the person entering the data to identify and record multiple types of incidents within the one record. There is also the option to record whether there is a belief that this incident is motivated by racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, etc and whether any protected characteristic has been targeted. Similarly, GBV can be recorded as part of the report for other types of incidents, for example racist incidents.

This enables schools and local authorities to analyse data to identify intersectionality, such as racism or transphobia which may be linked to the behaviour.

Incidents of bullying or harassment not covered by the definition in this guidance should continue to be recorded within the Bullying section of SEEMiS or a school’s equivalent recording system, in line with the national anti-bullying guidance, Respect for All.

Schools will have separate recording systems for incidents where a staff member is affected by a GBV incident, connected to their Health and Safety at Work or Dignity at Work policies. It is important that such incidents are part of the same monitoring and evaluation systems to capture a whole school picture of prevalence.

Evaluating Progress

Establishing prevalence will be the first step in evaluating progress. Quantitative evidence of decreasing prevalence may not be seen in the shorter term as improved understanding and identification of behaviours may increase the number of incidents recorded.

Equally Safe at School includes surveys which secondary schools can use to monitor prevalence of GBV incidents.

It is important, however, that progress monitoring includes both quantitative indicators and qualitative methods such as focus groups with children and young people, parents/ carers, and staff. Staff should be given proper time for collegiate discussion in relation to identifying and reporting GBV, ensuring that they are familiar with the recording process and expectations.

Evaluating universal approaches

The following suggested reflective questions may help schools evaluate the action they are taking to prevent GBV.

Education Scotland’s Improving Gender Balance and Self-Evaluation Framework is for all primary, secondary and ASN settings and is designed to support reflection, discussion and planning for an ongoing and sustainable approach to improving gender balance and equalities for all learners.

School culture and ethos

• What opportunities are currently utilised, and yet to be utilised, to communicate the establishment’s values in this area?
• How are children and young people provided with the opportunity to feedback on the school culture in relation to GBV and shape inform future actions?
• How are parents/carers and the wider school community involved in the policies and plans to tackle GBV, and what initiatives exist to foster understanding of the establishment’s policies and procedures for reporting?
• To what extent is there a shared commitment to gender equality across the school community? To what extent do children, young people, and staff’s experiences of the school reflect this?
• Is there a good level of understanding and expertise in relation to gender and GBV in the school? Are members of the staff and leadership team able to apply a gendered lens across a range of issues?
• How does the establishment work to tackle stigma and silence surrounding GBV?
• How consistent are the school and staff team in the messages they convey about gender equality and GBV? Does the school consistently challenge all forms of GBV, and sexist or other discriminatory language?
• Do staff actively model gender equal practices and relationships? Do they regularly engage in challenging gender stereotypes and promoting non-gender-stereotypical roles, behaviours and expectations? Do they encourage children and young people to do so (see School culture and ethos and Curriculum)?
• Has the school built relationships with specialist equalities and GBV organisations, including local Violence Against Women and Girls Partnerships, to increase its understanding of the issues and to better understand the interplay between different forms of inequality?

Policies and systems

• How well do existing school policies consider GBV and articulate Local Authority and Child Protection Procedures?
• To what extent do school policies recognise, articulate and realise the need for everyone, both children and young people, and staff, to be safe and respected?
• Are systems for reporting and accessing support clear and communicated well so that practitioners, parents/carers and children and young people feel empowered to identify indicators and forms of GBV and to report incidents of GBV or seek help?
• Does the school collect and analyse data through an equality and gendered lens? Does it use this data to examine/address barriers for children and young people?
• Have children and young people been offered the opportunity to shape school policies, and to what extent have they engaged with this?
• How well do the school’s plans in relation to health and wellbeing, specifically consider GBV in planning, and improvement frameworks?
• To what extent are current policies and procedures on GBV monitored and evaluated, and does how does this inform future planning?
• What opportunities are there for further development, including tackling GBV in future planning?

Professional learning and development

• Have staff accessed professional learning on gender equality and GBV? How far has it met their needs and influenced their practice?
• Does the school provide regular opportunities for staff to self-reflect on their own attitudes, behaviours and biases? Does it help create a safe space amongst staff to deliver and receive constructive feedback around language use and interactions with children and young people?
• Are children and young people provided with regular opportunities to share their views and experiences of the school/setting culture? How is this data used to identify barriers for children and young people and staff professional learning needs?
• Are staff equipped to safely engage in this work? Is the potential impact on them recognised and support services signposted?

Curriculum

• Is gender equality increasingly integrated across the school curriculum, through dedicated lessons and as a cross-cutting theme across all subject areas?
• Are children and young people equipped to understand and navigate sex and relationships appropriate to their age, stage and needs, and to contribute to healthy discourses within their peer groups, as a foundation for preventing and tackling GBV?
• How do staff successfully tackle the barriers that children and young people face arising from gender or other forms of inequality, to support increased gender balance and encourage uptake in all subject areas and consideration of all occupations?

Evaluating targeted approaches

Safeguarding children and young people affected by GBV

• Was the child or young person supported to be and to feel safe at school, and able to continue with their education and participate as fully as they wished in the life of the school?
• Were they supported to recover from harm, including through access to any specialist services?
• Did they feel supported to participate in making decisions that affected them, and in identifying their own needs?
• Did they receive and understand clear information about any information-sharing, safeguarding, or child protection procedures that were taking place?

Responding to those carrying out GBV

• Is there a clear process in place to respond to a report of GBV carried out by a school pupil?
• Are there clear links to National Guidance on Child Protection?
• Are staff aware of where to seek support if they are concerned a crime has been committed or a child or young person has been seriously hurt?
• Was the child or young person involved in another incident following the response to incident under consideration?