Teachers to be trained to spot early signs of misogyny in boys

Teachers will be given training to spot and tackle misogyny in the classroom, while high-risk pupils could be sent on behavioural courses as part of the government's long-awaited strategy to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade.

The plans for schools in England - which focus on preventing the radicalisation of young men - have been unveiled as part of a wider strategy which had been delayed three times.

Teachers will get specialist training around issues such as consent, the dangers of sharing intimate images, how to identify positive role models, and to challenge unhealthy myths about women and relationships.

The Department for Education's statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education already says schools should "be alive to issues such as everyday sexism, misogyny, homophobia and gender stereotypes and take positive action to build a culture where these are not tolerated".

It says secondary pupils should be taught about consent, the negative impacts of pornography on sexual relationships, and that sharing and viewing of indecent images of children is a crime.

Updated guidance, published this summer and due to be rolled out from September, specifies that pupils "should be equipped to recognise misogyny" as well as its links to violence against women and girls, and understand the importance of challenging it.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said it was positive the government was recognising the importance of training and support for school staff but said schools were "just part of the solution".

Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the government's focus, but added it was essential that the government introduced "effective measures to prevent at source the spread of online misogynistic content which is served up to young people by social media algorithms".

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch suggested the classes for teenage boys were only being rolled out because "some people in Labour" watched Adolescence - the Netflix drama that explored the impact of social media and influencers on teenage boys.

She said £20m was "a pittance" and the government needed to put more police officers on the street, stop "people, who come from cultures that don't respect women, coming into our country", and remove foreign criminals as soon as they commit crimes.

Liberal Democrats spokeswoman for women and equalities Marie Goldman welcomed training for teachers but said unless it was accompanied by steps to "properly moderate online content" she had no doubt it would fail.

Nicola Mclafferty, 42, is a victim of domestic violence and said more needed to be done to teach children about abuse.

"Survivors of domestic abuse, men or women, should go into assemblies and speak to the children about it, tell them a bit of your lived experience, enough that it's not going to scare them but be quite factual.

"There needs to be more people talking and they need to know."

The government has announced a raft of measures in its overall VAWG strategy, including the introduction of specialist investigators to every police force to oversee rape and sexual offence cases.

There is also a roll-out of domestic abuse protection orders, which have been trialled across England and Wales over the past year.

The court-issued orders mean individuals can be banned from contacting a victim, visiting their home or posting harmful content online, and can also be used in cases involving coercive or controlling behaviour. Breaching an order is a criminal offence.

Announcing the package in the Commons, Phillips said the strategy would deploy "the full force of the state" across local and national government to prevent VAWG.

She said the strategy was backed by £1bn funding for victims support, including for safe housing.

Other measures include better NHS support for child and adult survivors of abuse, and a funding boost for councils to provide safe housing for domestic abuse survivors.

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