Trialling a Whole-School Approach to Sexual Harassment
In 2024/25 we won our second round of funding from the Welsh Government to trial different approaches to work with secondary schools on sexual harassment. In phase one, we had worked with four schools over one term; this time we worked with just one school over a whole academic year.
Through before and after surveys done ten months apart, focus groups with students and interviews with staff, we would measure how much impact we could make on the Year 10 pupils we’d work with, and on school culture as a whole.
We found that:
Focusing on ‘lower-level’ harm and everyday misogyny can be powerful. Interviews and surveys showed more confidence in reporting harassment, and a staff body who felt comfortable challenging incidents earlier, preventing more serious harm arising.
Workshops from external providers are an important part of the picture. Students and staff consistently agreed that having visitors in gave more weight to the topic and created a safer space to share. Our workshops are distinct from lessons, being very discussion based, helping students to critically reflect on their own behaviours or views.
With the right approach, boys can and do engage. Boys were just as likely as girls to state that the programme was valuable and important and students of all genders appreciated the messaging that gender norms are harmful for everyone.
The percentage of students who agreed they felt comfortable reporting sexual harassment at school rose from 53% at the start of the programme to 79% at the end, and this jump was even higher for girls. You can read our full report and survey results here.
A huge thank you to our facilitator team, Crickhowell High School and the Welsh Government for supporting this piece of work to take place.
