Know your rights, you have a right to be safe at work and to work free from sexist comments, sexual harassment and abuse.
Campaign toolkit aims to help NEU members take the steps needed to prevent sexism and sexual harassment.
Welcome to the It’s Not OK toolkit: a set of briefings, posters, online conversations and lesson plans to help NEU members organise to prevent sexism and sexual harassment in their schools.
We recommend that you use this tool alongside the ‘Whole School Approach to Preventing Sexism and Sexual Harassment’ poster which outlines the ten elements to a whole school approach.
“By empowering our young students through our equality group we have grown the agency and urgency of everyone in the school to make powerful change for good. Students are able to challenge inequality with confidence which they will take with them into adulthood.”Member, West Sussex
Women and girls have been organising for centuries to speak up for their rights.
Discrimination against women and girls has been built into societies across the world throughout history, with the needs of men and boys usually being put first and shaping how society functions.
Not all inequality is immediately visible – violence against women and girls is often hidden, pay differences can be kept tucked away behind different job descriptions, the language that tells us we need a ‘big strong man’ to lift things and a girl to ‘tidy up after art class’ are so day-to-day they feel normal. The global pandemic shone a spotlight on gender inequality (and many other inequalities) as we saw women in the global north juggling childcare, elder care, hygiene management, food supplies and work. And we saw a horrifying increase in violence and abuse as women were trapped at home. Women and girls in the global south faced similar issues plus loss of education and income, increases in violence and abuse, and as schools closed we saw many girls enter early marriages and increases in teenage pregnancy. One thing the pandemic told us is that there is still a long way to go, but now is the time for change.
Changing the status of women and girls in any society needs to start with small steps. It will need to look at the culture around women and girls (and non-binary students) and how others treat them and respect their rights. Sometimes these first steps might seem small, but they always contribute to a bigger picture.
Our role as staff is to help students
Through the research report It’s just everywhere: a study on sexism in schools and how we tackle it the NEU found that:
¹ Ofsted (10 June 2021) Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges
² Ofsted (10 June 2021) Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges
The Department for Education (DfE) has said that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are three times more likely to be abused than their peers³.
Additional barriers can sometimes exist when recognising abuse in children with SEND. These can include:
Ofsted’s report (2021) on sexual harassment says that children and young people with special education needs may be less likely to report sexual harassment⁴. Any reports of abuse involving children with SEND will therefore require close liaison with the designated safeguarding lead (or deputy) and the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCo) or additional learning needs co- ordinator (ALNCo) in Wales⁵.
This toolkit takes the evidence from our past research, It’s just everywhere, and puts it into action.
For any change in school life to be meaningful, it must involve young people so that they feel empowered to think and act differently.
When students discuss their experiences and the experiences of their peers and take ownership of the challenges, they are often the experts in identifying what needs to change in their social groups. By involving them from the start, we as staff can empower the leaders of the future to take responsibility and ownership of the changes we all want for happy, equitable and safe schools.
³ L Jones et al (2012) Prevalence and risk of violence against children with disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. The Lancet (July 2012) in Department for Education (September 2021) Sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges: Advice for governing bodies, proprietors, headteachers, principals, senior leadership teams and designated safeguarding leads.
⁴ Ofsted (10 June 2021) Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges (England)
⁵ Department for Education (September 2021) Sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges: Advice for governing bodies, proprietors, headteachers, principals, senior leadership teams and designated safeguarding leads
Identify your group. Start by just chatting to people around you. Is anyone else interested in what interests you? Is anyone frustrated by inequality and keen to see change? Are there existing groups that you can work with? Talk about your intentions and map those you come across who might support you. You will often find people want to get involved. Have chats over coffee, in the staff room etc as it’s good to know what people feel is unjust and what motivates them. The journey to being an activist isn’t done overnight, so take your time to understand what the bigger picture looks like.
A classic organising model takes us from anger 🡒 to hope 🡒 to action
Identify need. The more you can evidence the need for change, the easier it is to start the conversation.
What are the issues in your school? You could start by identifying the incidences of sexism and sexual harassment that occur. To find that information you could look with your safeguarding team or pastoral leads at safeguarding data and records of relevant incidents, for example sexist language, upskirting, sexual harassment.
Think about the needs of your specific students, for example their demographics, their ages and faiths, and what they feel they need.
It’s useful to know that Ofsted says school and college leaders should create a culture where sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are not tolerated, and where they identify issues and intervene early to better protect children and young people.
In order to do this, they should assume that sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are happening in their setting, even when there are no specific reports, and put in place a whole school approach to address them⁶.
You might want to conduct an anonymous survey of students to find out what they feel is going on in school. Make sure your senior leadership team (SLT) is informed about your plans and what you will do with the results, and that it supports the decision to go ahead. In particular, think carefully about the risk of a serious incident being reported anonymously.
Get leadership on board. First look into what your leadership is doing to tackle the issue of sexism and sexual harassment in school. Are there any policies already in place?
Are teachers and students aware of how to identify and report incidences of sexism and sexual harassment? If you can show your SLT that you are contributing to the policies and goals of the school, it is more likely to support your aims.
Speak to your SLT and explain why you feel a youth group is needed and share any evidence you have. Most of all get feedback from students about what they want; this should be the key reason a group happens. Responding to student experience is paramount.
Be led by students. If students want to form a group or need help to hold meetings etc, respond to their needs. They may need support to identify what kind of group they want, whether it is a feminist group open to all, or a group exclusively for girls and non-binary students. Boys may also want a space for boys and young men. You can read more about this in Working with boys and young men to prevent sexism and sexual harassment.
Offer students support to identify what would be most beneficial. There is an enormous amount of value in creating a safe space for girls (or girls and non-binary students) to talk about sexism and gendered social norms.
Be inclusive. Tackling sexism and sexual harassment begins by looking at gender stereotypes and gender discrimination. But other forms of discrimination also exacerbate sexism and sexual harassment. If a student belongs to a group that experiences discrimination such as racism or homophobia, sexual harassment can feel different for them. Being inclusive does not mean overlooking the fact that sexism disproportionately impacts girls and women, as Ofsted states in its report on sexual harassment⁷.
“Although anyone can experience sexual harassment and violence, research indicates that girls are disproportionately affected. For example, 90 per cent of recorded offences of rape in 2018/19 of 13- to 15-year-olds were committed against girls. In the past year, girls aged between 15 and 17 reported the highest annual rates of sexual abuse for young people and children aged 25 and younger.”
However, we need to think about how sexism and sexual harassment happens for different groups of students. This means that we need to think about how sexual harassment impacts Black girls, disabled girls, lesbian and bisexual girls, trans and non-binary students.
Some boys, especially those who identify as members of the LGBT+ community, will have experienced sexual harassment as well. Support your group to be a safe and inclusive space for students.
When considering how inclusive your group is, remember disability. For example, in the case of physical disabilities, is your group easy to hear about and join? Is it easy to actually get to the room? Could you make adjustments to make it more welcoming? For students with SEND, check with the specialist staff in your school about the tried and tested adjustments you can make to include them. Then ensure you use clear language and avoid euphemisms.
Ask who takes up space. Consider who takes up the space in the group. How do you encourage girls (who tend to speak less in mixed classes) to take up a fair share of the speaking time? How do you make sure that students can share and plan action on different forms of harassment so that Black students and or LGBT+ students, get a chance to take part equally. Talking generally about what is happening for girls in the school is a good way in. You can try out our sample session, A woolly conversation, at the end of this paper.
Be prepared. These groups are not designed to be reporting spaces, and this should be reflected in your safe space agreements with students and staff. You will need your reporting and safeguarding mechanisms in place – make sure your designated safeguarding lead is aware of the group so they can also be prepared.
Remember the power of delegating. Mobilising for change is hard work, and it is a lot to do to sustain momentum on top of the workload of general teaching. Look for colleagues that will support you. Engage student leaders from all year groups that have them, but also look for those students from older year groups who may be keen to help and take on some responsibility.
Look after yourself. Your energy to support young people will inspire them to create change but if this works drains you, everyone loses out. Set boundaries for yourself, set limits on the time you allocate to the group, surround yourself with people who will support and energise you, and help you relax after sessions. You are important and worthy of care, and you should treat yourself as such.
⁶ Ofsted (10 June 2021) Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges
⁷ Ofsted (10 June 2021) Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges
We heard from a NEU member who teaches in a secondary school in West Sussex and co- ordinates the student equalities groups. They have separate groups for various equality elements, including girls, boys, race, LGBT+ and disability. These small groups come together once a term to meet and discuss their needs. The teacher then holds one main equality team meeting biweekly.
She has found that the smaller, topic-specific groups offer a more comfortable space for students to have conversations that they might not feel as willing to share in the larger group.
She has a staff member from those equality strands to support each group.
As she explains: “I’m not Black so I have a Black teacher support the meetings. I’m not male so when I meet with the boys a male teacher supports the meetings with me and the same with the LGBT+ group etc.”
Create it together. Invite the young people to put forward their ideas and rules for a safe space. You may want to prompt them with ideas including:
It is not a place for disclosure. Make this clear to students at the start and explain this is not a place to talk about the names of people they know. Anonymous examples may be useful.
Be clear on reporting. Make sure early on in the life of the group that all students know how to report anything that concerns them and check you have your safeguarding and reporting mechanisms in place. Have links to local support and specialist groups on hand.
It’s OK to not know, and OK to ask questions.
Value inclusion and different experiences. We are all here to learn, and we all have something to offer.
Acknowledge these topics can be difficult. Some people may get upset about some topics. Discuss with the students that it is OK if that happens, and that it is OK to need to step out of a session. Agree a safe place or teacher they should go to that is within school guidelines.
Make sure the topic for each meeting is set in advance. This allows any young people who feel nervous about a topic to be in control of their decision about whether to attend. Strong facilitation is needed to keep the topic for each session clear and focussed, and to guide discussion so that it remains a safe space.
Age and stage. Carefully consider the age and educational and developmental stage of students to gauge what topics are suitable and to what depth to take those topics. You may need to divide the meeting into different age groups, or you may need to encourage older students to take a conversation into a separate group.
Is it accessible? This applies to disabilities but is also good to apply to culturally appropriate spaces as well.
Do we share? Agree with the group what can and cannot be shared by other members. Be very clear that these agreements include being online. If the school permits communication via social media, make it clear to students that rules about confidentiality and ways of communicating apply to communications offline and online.
Use ‘I’ statements as much as possible to state your reactions or your experiences. This helps to avoid comments sound as though they are criticising others when challenging them. For example, saying “when you were speaking, I felt confused about what was the right thing to do” rather than “your presentation was confusing”; or “I’ve decided I don’t agree with your point” rather than “you are wrong”.
Your role as staff. Be clear with students that you have a professional role and a role as a staff member to uphold the behaviour and expectations of the school, and that applies in the safe space. Your role to help structure the group is really important. The topics discussed could be very sensitive so it is important that a skilled facilitator mediates the sessions. If your group is popular you could expect quite a few students and that can be hard work – keep inviting others in to support you.
And finally, everyone’s safety comes first. If a young person thinks they have made a mistake or broken the safe space rules, be clear that the priority is that they are safe and can tell a trusted adult.
Consider if any of the older students could act as mentors to younger students, for example to help them prepare a presentation for the group.
Take students on an organiser’s journey:
Goal setting. Aim to set a purpose for your group. Ask students what they really want to get out of a feminist/girls/preventing sexism group? Do they want to campaign? Do they want to discuss and understand? Where do they want to be at the end of term or school year?
Creative and energising. Use arts, music, theatre – you name it. Talk about what Beyoncé is doing, what is everyone watching and listening to, create reels and animation – the sky is the limit.
Varying learning and participation models. Just as you approach classroom learning, in student groups everyone learns differently so try to vary the type of content. For example, one session could be a talk from a student, or watching and discussing a film. Another week could be drawing ideas onto paper about a certain subject so that the learning methods vary.
Create a term plan. Agree with your group what you will all do and make a term planner – as much as possible encourage students to lead the ideas. Planning can be part of the bonding and learning process as it will require setting out issues, negotiating and being organised. Can the students create an advert to attract more members for the group or a create a termly planner on PowerPoint? These are great skills for life as well.
Share a collective understanding of sexism and sexual harassment. Explore what these words mean to individual young people and look at how sexual harassment is linked to power and inequality in gender relationships. Also explore how sexual harassment may affect various identities differently. Talk about how this applies in school, but how it could also apply to a workplace or on the street.
Campaigns. What is the change young people want to see? A key skill in campaigning and finding resolutions is aiming for a change that is achievable and effective. Your role may be to help the students formulate a campaign and a resolution. The sample sessions Topic Trees and What makes a good campaigner or organiser? at the end of this document are useful first steps in campaigning.
When looking at resolutions you can encourage students to use the SMART tool:
Is the change you want to see
The history of campaigns and unions. There are some incredible stories out there about how people have organised for change. Such stories can really inspire young people. The NEU has a great set of materials about the Women Chainmakers, as well as the Black History Month education pack and role model posters.
Learning in a safe space. There may be times when students want the space to explore an issue in greater depth or to ask questions about a topic. Do not be afraid to say, “I don’t know”. Encourage students to run their own sessions, for example what can the students teach each other? Can they share stories about their culture or faith, or discuss an inspiring book they have read?
Find out about feminism. This could involve learning about feminist activism around the world and the history of inspiring women. It could include myth-busting about feminism if some young people have negative stereotypes that need addressing.
Linking to other student bodies. This could be their student union, a participation group or student reps. If you are part of a multi-academy trust (MAT) or linked to other schools locally, could students join up across schools? This is a great exercise in mapping out who can support you and who will help you.
Build skills for life. Speaking up and taking part in democratic processes are skills for life for students. Make sure there is time for students to learn skills such as public speaking, voting, respectfully arguing a point or disagreeing.
Listening and engaging students. A group session is a perfect way to consult students – see some of the ideas below on making that meaningful.
Safeguarding regulations are as relevant to student groups as they are anywhere else in the school. Make sure you are clear with students about what you can keep confidential and what must be shared with other professionals.
An NEU member teaches A-level social science in a secondary school in Newcastle upon Tyne. She facilitates the Schools Against Sexism research action group and runs a thriving feminist society of 30-40 students.
“Initially I started the group with no specific plan in place with regards to structure. It really didn’t work as the students needed something to focus their discussion. I passed around a piece of paper and asked the students to write down what they wanted to discuss and who wanted to volunteer to run that particular session.
“Topics included the skincare industry, women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, women and video games, toxic masculinity, the importance of pronouns, mental and physical disability, menstruation, pretty privilege, tribal marking, feminism and race and women in religion.”
Create a safe space for students to participate; they need to feel safe and confident before they can speak up.
Set clear expectations of what you can offer the students. Be honest with them about what is possible and where you have limitations, but also support ambitious goals. For example, will Harry Styles play a gig at your school? No not likely. But would the local BBC cover your project? Yes they might, give it a try.
Are you prepared to change? Are you willing to do what students request? For participation to be meaningful, there must be a commitment to change. Genuinely responding to young people may mean doing something that you wouldn’t chose yourself.
Talk to your colleagues to ensure they feel comfortable and willing to make changes based on feedback. If the young people are looking for change to be applied across a school setting, it may need to be either through a school-wide policy from a senior leader or, if the change comes from teaching staff, it may need to be well communicated across the staff body. Plan in advance how any suggested changes will need to be shared and taken forward, and get others on board to support you.
Make it fun. Arts, drama and creativity are great ways to gather student feedback and empower them. Agenda by Cardiff University, agendaonline.co.uk, has a wide range of creative tools for educators to use.
How are you listening to vulnerable groups? Do girls need a specific space to speak up? Do LGBT+ students need space? Are the spaces safe for students of colour to speak about racism? Are the spaces accessible if a student has SEND? How can you build anti-sexism to be a common value across your school?
Never underestimate the power of youth voices. As an adult you can advocate for young people, but that advocacy will always be more powerful if it comes directly from them. Look at how you can use any platforms you can access to put forward a young person’s voice.
Use the expertise of your staff. You will have a huge range of talent, passion and ideas across your staff body about how to tackle and talk about sexism. Draw others in and make this a shared responsibility.
Aim: to support students identify who takes up the most space when speaking, and to support them to self-manage that space.
Equipment: a long ball of wool.
Inclusion: if a student cannot hold the wool, consider how they might fix it to a chair or table etc safely. If a student cannot catch, encourage their neighbours to catch the wool for them.
Be cautious if you think there are students who have been sexually harassed and want to say so – this isn’t a time for safeguarding reporting, but it is fair that they have an appropriate amount of time to speak.
Aim: to quickly draw out ideas from young people about what they feel are the issues on a subject.
Equipment: flipchart paper, multi-coloured pens, a timer that makes a noise, optional stickers.
Time: variable, from 20 minutes (very brief) to a full lesson.
Number of students: groups of eight upwards, but time and equipment will vary.
Access: requires mobility round a classroom, and ability to write independently or with support. If a student cannot move easily, move the papers instead.
Room set-up: spread tables evenly across the room so it is easy to stand round them, four or five flipcharts spread out on tables, each with a collection of pens. There must be enough pens for all students.
If you are short of time, write four or five themes, one in the centre of each flipchart, using colours and decoration. Words you could use include:
school uniform / science and maths / toilets / in the corridors / in lessons
or
at school / doing sports / out and about / socialising / with my family/carers
or
health / violence and safety / pay and work / education / the media and online
Aim: to explore a problem the students want to address, identify the causes and impacts of the problem, and set out the solutions they want to focus on.
Equipment: flipchart paper, multi-coloured pens and Post-its or digital equivalents.
Time: at least 30 minutes, an hour is better.
Number of students: this can be done with two or three students or you can split the students into groups of approximately six, but time and equipment will vary.
Access: requires ability to write on a flipchart or digital tool and to write independently or with support.
Room set-up: ideally a large space with two or three flipcharts stuck together to make a large drawing space.
Aim: to develop ideas with young people about what skills and behaviours are needed to make a good campaigner.
Equipment: flipchart paper, multi-coloured pens, Post-its or digital tools that do the same thing.
Time: variable from 20 minutes.
Number of students: discussion groups need to be manageable so between three and six but the number of groups can be large if there is space for them to talk together.
Access: requires mobility to reach flipchart paper and the ability to write independently or with support.
Room set-up: two flipcharts joined together on walls or floor with plenty of space between the papers.
If the group is struggling to understand what campaigns are, you may want to make that the focus of the session and move to the exercise below at a later point. You can judge the pace that your group needs to take. Once you feel the group has grasped the idea of campaigns, explain that they are going to create a good campaigner in small groups and then feed back to the bigger group.
This next section will explore aspects of what makes a good campaigner. It contains eight options but using them all could be a bit repetitive for some students so pick out the elements that you want the group to focus on.
Encourage the group to write down what is important about the campaigner’s vision and why a good campaigner needs one. Ask them to think about some of the visions this particular group could have.
Additional exercise if you have time
Aim: to evaluate your group, for example at the end of term.
Equipment: flipchart paper, multi-coloured pens, Post-its or digital tools that do the same thing.
Time: variable from 20 minutes.
Number of students: discussion groups need to be manageable so between three and six but the number of groups can be large if there is space for them to talk together.
Access: requires mobility to reach flipchart paper and the ability to write independently or with support.
Room set-up: two flipcharts joined together on walls or floor with plenty of space between the papers.
