Wandsworth Youth Council calls for action on misogyny in schools, urges interactive education

Wandsworth Youth Council is advocating for decisive measures by local leaders to combat misogyny in schools, emphasising interactive education and open discussions to challenge harmful attitudes and prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG). The council's call to action is rooted in the belief that early intervention is crucial to address the root causes of VAWG.

The urgency of the situation is underscored by the high prevalence of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, a point acknowledged by Councillor Lizzie Dobres, Chair of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The call to action came during a joint meeting of the Wandsworth Council's Health and Children's Overview and Scrutiny Committees, where the interim report from the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Task and Finish Group was discussed. The VAWG Task and Finish Group Scoping Report aims to identify opportunities for early intervention and prevention of VAWG, with a key focus on hearing the voices of women, girls, and children, including young men, to shape the review.

Youth Council members shared their reflections on priority areas for young people, including:

• Expanding CCTV and public services to make public spaces safer for young women and girls.
• Classes around respecting young women from a young age.
• Social media messaging to encourage calling out misogyny.
• Engaging ways to educate people at impressionable ages.
• Peer support groups in schools.

The Youth Council's recommendations are based on the understanding that education on preventing VAWG should be addressed in both primary and secondary schools, and should be interactive and directly address misogyny. They also suggested integrating more intersectional studies and women representation across all subjects, as well as critical discussions and condemning misogynistic ideas when they appear in text or lesson content.

They emphasised that education on preventing VAWG should be addressed in both primary and secondary schools. These lessons should be interactive and should directly address misogyny, which is known to manifest into violence against women and girls, one member stated. They also suggested integrating more intersectional studies and women representation across all subjects, as well as critical discussions and condemning misogynistic ideas when they appear in text or lesson content.

Another Youth Council member added that lessons should be more interactive, and should really have that important discussion, not something to sit down and watch the slides or the PowerPoint because it's so much more to that.

To ensure the interventions are culturally sensitive and inclusive, an officer stated that they are ensuring support is delivered in a really contextual and culturally informed way.

Councillor Fraser directed a question to the Youth Council members, asking for their thoughts on what could be done to change the curriculum based on some of the things that they said, and whether they'd consider perhaps through this group or via council officers, perhaps reporting back to the Department for Education about the work that they've done here to try and shape the future of the curriculum as it goes out to really look at what can be changed in it.

One of the Youth Council members responded:

I think it's quite loaded in the sense that there's a lot of things that go into shaping the curriculum. But I'd say having it be something that students can actually resonate with. Because I think when it's delivered by someone who maybe you don't relate to as a student, it can, I guess, lead to you wanting to seek out more radical views in terms of how to approach a situation. And I think that's how people get indoctrinated because they're not taught how to think critically. But I think as teachers, there's kind of that duty to ensure that you're able to relate to young people in a sense. So I'd say it's not necessarily even just about the curriculum itself, but it's also about how educators are able to relate to young people and ensure that they feel that the curriculum sees people like them in it. Because it just makes it so much easier to learn when it's being delivered by someone or you're being taught about someone who's a little bit more similar to you.

Another Youth Council member added that the lessons that they're exposed to are very passive and it's more of a something to get to just do once a week, and that attitude is where the problem stems because it shouldn't be another 30 minutes of a lesson, it should be something more interactive and should really have that important discussion, not something to sit down and watch the slides or the PowerPoint because it's so much more to that.

Councillor Osborne picked up on the comments from the Youth Council about the need to engage young men and boys in the subject matter, and asked how exactly do we make sure that not only we get that conversation, we get the right conversation with young men and boys on this subject.

One of the Youth Council members responded that by having groups where young men and boys don't feel necessarily like they're being villainised, it's how you have more open and interactive discussions and kind of recognising that it is an issue and you are able to call it out.

The Youth Council also felt that prevention needs to go further than just schools, and should include youth clubs, places of worship, and community areas in general.

Councillor Della Sejol echoed the chair's comments, noting that the Task and Finish group is a great example of cross-party working.

The VAWG Task and Finish Group Scoping Report highlighted several key lines of enquiry for the review:

• Hearing the voices of women, girls, and children, including young men.
• Addressing harmful behaviours in schools, colleges, and youth spaces.
• Improving relationships, consent, and respect education.
• Engaging men and boys in preventing violence against women and girls.
• Promoting inclusivity and intersectional prevention work.
• Supporting and resourcing community-led prevention approaches.
• Strengthening workforce training on VAWG prevention.
• Aligning with national and international best practice.
• Improving communication of available services.

The report also included a list of eight key components of a good prevention offer for VAWG, including a primary prevention focus, multi-level interventions, evidence-based approaches, whole-system integration, targeted support for children and young people, intersectional and inclusive design, community engagement and co-production, and online safety.

To support educators in facilitating these discussions, the council offers supervision through their education psychology service and their education safeguarding lead for Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs), who often deal with challenging situations. Additionally, more schools are adopting trauma-informed practices, with the virtual school providing free training on this approach to help educators understand the impact of VAWG on young people.

Parental involvement is also being considered, with feedback from parent champions indicating that they felt sidelined but that the experience gave them the opportunity to have conversations with their sons and daughters about their experiences.