The Government are launching a new inquiry into the scale and impact of sexual harassment and violence in schools. This issue originally came about because of the Fixers report whereby 300 students took part in numerous workshops across the UK. The results of the report found that schools were not getting involved adequately enough in the pressures that young people face in regards to harassment and sexual bullying. Also, teachers were likely to brush off incidents, resulting in no discipline taking place to address the issues. Many cases were therefore unreported.
In 2015, Girlguiding UK discovered that 75% of girls and young women said that they were affected by anxiety regarding potential sexual harassment or assaults. Similarly, in September 2015, there were 5,500 reported sexual incidents reported in the UK over a three-year period, including 600 rapes. It is because of statistics such as these that the UK government is now wishing to conduct a report that tackles and addresses such issues.
The new governmental report will therefore attempt to go further, tackling a wide range of issues including how much harassment is taking place, who are the targets of sexual harassment and bullying, are these levels increasing, and how well the issue is being recorded and dealt with. The report also wishes to understand the impact that this type of harassment is having on young people.
Further inquires into what can be done to tackle the issues, including OFSTED’s influence and responsibilities, and the role and policies that can be implemented in the processes surrounding sexual harassment and bullying are a few of the areas being looked at.
For more information, please follow this link to the official UK Parliament site.