The “concerning” degree to which secondary school teachers are reporting sexual harassment and misconduct among their students is highlighted in new Tes findings.
The vast majority of secondary staff surveyed by Tes were aware of incidents including verbal sexual harassment, revenge porn and sexual assault involving students at their school over the past year.
The results follow the outpouring of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse in school unearthed by the website Everyone’s Invited.
Today’s survey findings have led to calls for more to be done to equip teachers to challenge sexism, harassment and sexual violence at school.
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Out of 1,644 secondary staff surveyed, more than half (55 per cent) had come across verbal sexual harassment among students.
Sexual harassment in secondary schools
More than a third were aware of incidents involving children watching or circulating pornography (38 per cent) and requests for naked pictures (35 per cent).
Revenge porn and sharing of private sexual images without consent were mentioned by 29 per cent, while 14 per cent had come across “upskirting”.
Overall among secondary staff, 15 per cent were aware of sexual assaults involving their students over the past year and 7 per cent said the same of rape.
Many teachers appeared concerned about the impact of students’ access to, and ability to share, online pornography.
One of the respondents commented: “I have noticed a sizable increase in incidents of ‘sexual harassment’ during the course of the last two years.
“I firmly believe that mobile phones, particularly smartphones, should be banned from all schools, as it’s use of smartphones that makes it very easy to distribute pornography.”
Sexualised and misogynistic language was mentioned frequently by respondents.
One commented: “Boys are frequently using sexualised language calling girls c***s in a normal way. Girls seem unoffended by being called this and call each other ‘bitches’, which is becoming the norm for a term of endearment for women to refer to each other.
“Girls clearly need education on what and what isn’t acceptable and not just ‘banter’. What misogyny is and why it is important that it’s not tolerated.”
Another teacher said there were “far too many incidents of male students joking about rape, raping other students and objectifying their fellow female students. There is also too much emphasis on girls dressing ‘appropriately’. It seems to translate to the students...that the boys will harass you if you don’t cover up more. In other words, you are the cause of your harassment.”
The extent to which children had been online during lockdown, with some accessing inappropriate materials, was another common concern.
One assistant headteacher said: “Children have been groomed by people meaning them harm over lockdown and have come back with a range of safeguarding issues. Students are normalised to horrific pornography and violence. We have an avalanche of issues coming but no one is listening.
“Particularly boys are groomed via gaming where they join groups with others they assume are their age and then they start sharing via discord servers. The lockdown grooming issue needs a light shone it.”
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said sexual harassment and abuse was embedded in society, and this was reflected in schools.
“Teachers feel a great responsibility to address it, to enable girls to speak out, and challenge the stereotypes and sexism which drive boys’ attitudes and behaviours.”
Separate Tes survey findings have revealed that almost half of teachers feel there is insufficient official guidance for schools on how to deal with allegations of sexual harassment and violence.
And Dr Bousted said “very little has been done” by the government since it released 2017 guidance on sexual violence and sexual harassment in schools to “enable education professionals to feel confident and equipped to tackle this”.
She said: “There is no strategy and no leadership from government to harness the potential of education to address sexism and sexual harassment.
“Schools must be empowered with curriculum flexibility to ensure that educational priorities include wellbeing and the social and emotional development of children and young people. It must be made clear that this is the key business of schools and is essential to building relationships based on gender-equity, dignity, respect and human rights.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said the frequency with which teachers and leaders are reporting awareness of incidents was “concerning”.
He added: “This week’s Tes survey shows a significant number of school staff saying they’d come across incidents involving pupils watching or circulating pornography, which poses the question of whether children’s unsupervised online access increased during lockdown.
“We need to ensure all school staff are equipped to deal with the challenges they are facing. There is a lack of high-quality training for school staff in recognising sexually related behaviours and, more importantly, guidance on the best practice approaches to dealing with them in a school environment. There is also a lack of support services for schools to turn to for expertise, advice and guidance.
“There also needs to be further concerted action beyond schools and colleges to tackle wider societal issues, particularly around the misuse of social media and the availability of pornography online.”
Are you aware of any of the following peer-on-peer incidents over the past year involving students at your school (please tick any that apply)?
Verbal sexual harassment - eg, cat-calling, wolf-whistling55%
Upskirting14%
Revenge porn/sharing of private sexual images without consent29%
Other sexual harassment31%
Sexual assault15
Rape7%
Requests for naked pictures35%
Reports of children watching or circulating pornography38%
A DfE spokesperson said: “It is vital that any allegations are dealt with properly, and we are determined to make sure the right resources and processes are in place across the education system to support victims of any form of abuse.
“The important work Ofsted is doing will look carefully at the safeguarding measures schools and colleges have in place, as well as assessing whether extra support is needed for teaching about sex and relationships.
“Crucially, Ofsted will work with representatives from social care, police, victim support groups, education leaders and the Independent Schools Council to ensure a wide range of expertise inform their work.”
