How it will equip education settings to strengthen pupil understanding of relationships and violence against women and girls, and what work…

Abuse, violence or harassment of any kind, particularly violence against women and girls (VAWG), should not be tolerated in our society. We are taking forward a range of actions in schools to address VAWG and sexual harassment.Our Equally Safe strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls emphasises the importance of challenging the underpinning attitudes which enable such violence to take place, including in education settings.In March 2024 we published a national framework for schools to help tackle gender-based violence. It provides guidance on how schools can address the underlying causes of gender-based violence, and ensure appropriate action is taken in response to specific incidents.To further support schools, we fund Rape Crisis Scotland to run Equally Safe at Schools, a programme which helps build a positive culture in which staff feel more confident and skilled in responding to incidents and disclosures of sexual harassment and students are empowered to seek help if needed. Alongside this, we also fund the Rape Crisis Prevention Programme to provide training for pupils on issues related to misogyny and violence. We also fund Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Programme which is a peer education programme which works to tackle gender stereotyping and attitudes that condone violence against women and girls.Relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education is an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the school curriculum in Scotland. RSHP education focuses on equipping children and young people with the knowledge, skills and values to make informed and positive choices about forming relationships. This includes understanding of issues like consent, appropriate relationships and boundaries, which can play a crucial role in helping to reduce instances of gender based violence.We have also supported Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) to develop their new Digital Discourse Initiative, which is a free online resource for teachers and educators designed to equip children and young people with skills to navigate digital media and counter the impacts of disinformation and online hate. The resource features a detailed case analysis about the so-called ‘Manosophere’ and the promotion of radical misogyny online from Zero Tolerance, the charity working to end men’s violence against women.