Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- one Preventing violence against women and girls through education: dilemmas and challenges
- two Does gender matter in violence prevention programmes?
- three Responding to sexual violence in girls’ intimate relationships: the role of schools
- four ‘Pandora’s Box’: preventing violence against black and minority ethnic women and girls
- five Preventing violence against women and girls: a whole school approach
- six What did you learn at school today? Education for prevention
- seven No silent witnesses: strategies in schools to empower and support disclosure
- eight Preventing sexual violence: the role of the voluntary sector
- nine ‘Boys think girls are toys’: sexual exploitation and young people
- ten MsUnderstood: the benefits of engaging young women in antiviolence work
- eleven Shifting Boundaries: lessons on relationships for students in middle school
- Concluding remarks
- Appendix: Examples of programmes in the UK
- Index
six - What did you learn at school today? Education for prevention
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 March 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- one Preventing violence against women and girls through education: dilemmas and challenges
- two Does gender matter in violence prevention programmes?
- three Responding to sexual violence in girls’ intimate relationships: the role of schools
- four ‘Pandora’s Box’: preventing violence against black and minority ethnic women and girls
- five Preventing violence against women and girls: a whole school approach
- six What did you learn at school today? Education for prevention
- seven No silent witnesses: strategies in schools to empower and support disclosure
- eight Preventing sexual violence: the role of the voluntary sector
- nine ‘Boys think girls are toys’: sexual exploitation and young people
- ten MsUnderstood: the benefits of engaging young women in antiviolence work
- eleven Shifting Boundaries: lessons on relationships for students in middle school
- Concluding remarks
- Appendix: Examples of programmes in the UK
- Index
Summary
“I have learnt that no one should make you do anything you don't want to and that you should only be with someone if they treat you well.” (Primary school pupil, 2007)
Introduction
Schools have the opportunity to change pupils’ attitudes or to be the playgrounds, both literal and metaphorical, in which damaging and negative gender relations are rehearsed and internalised for future reference. The prevalence of domestic violence, coupled with schools’ responsibility for the social and moral development of their pupils, presented a space within which to introduce the initiative discussed here. This chapter considers the important role that schools can play in addressing the many gender inequalities, stereotypes and negative images of women that persist in mainstream and popular culture. Such inequalities, which can engender low self-esteem in girls and a sense of entitlement in boys, may contribute to the types of behaviour that lead to domestic violence.
Evidence of the need for a school-based domestic violence prevention initiative in the borough was initially identified with reference to the London Domestic Violence Strategy (GLA, 2001). Several years after the introduction of the Learning to Respect (LTR) programme discussed in this chapter, the need for domestic violence prevention in the school curriculum was affirmed by the former government's VAWG strategy. The new 2013 cross-government definition of domestic violence, extended to include 16 and 17 year olds, amplifies this need (Home Office, 2013).
Funding was secured and the author was appointed, in 2004, for a fixed-term part-time consultancy to establish a pilot scheme which became known as the ‘Learning to Respect: Domestic Violence Education Programme’ (the LTR programme). This chapter considers the many opportunities and barriers presented during the development, delivery and evaluation of the LTR programme in Hounslow, a large diversely populated west London borough. Other issues explored include the practicalities of delivery, the evolution of the post, its location within an education context, concomitant funding issues, the formation of a multiagency team to deliver training and the relationship of all of these factors to the sustainability of the programme. The chapter illustrates the methods by which the programme gained some purchase in schools through the creation of a distinct identity and by collaborating with colleagues involved in supporting schools to meet statutory requirements related to areas such as curriculum development and child protection.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Preventing Violence against Women and GirlsEducational Work with Children and Young People, pp. 121 - 142Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2014