Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, comments on education-focused measures in the government’s strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.
“We welcome the government’s focus on protecting girls and supporting boys to steer clear of misogynistic influences. Schools are already on the front line of tackling the impact on young people of corrosive attitudes which are present in wider society and are proliferated on social media platforms.
“We look forward to seeing more detail about the specialist training which will be provided to teachers, and further requirements on secondary schools to educate students about healthy and respectful relationships, in addition to the existing statutory Relationships, Sex, and Health Education curriculum.
“It is essential, however, that the government also introduces effective measures to prevent at source the spread of online misogynistic content which is served up to young people by social media algorithms. We look forward to hearing how it plans to clamp down on poisonous content which has been allowed to go on unchecked for far too long.”