Meeting of the Parliament 06 March 2024 [Draft]
I will use my time to focus on gender-based violence. Last summer, Zero Tolerance Scotland sent a report to all MSPs that illustrated how horrifyingly commonplace it is for young women and girls to be survivors of sexual violence at school. Two in three had experienced sexual harassment in school in the past year, a third knew another girl who had experienced rape or sexual assault and one in five did not feel safe in school. The most recent surveys from the NASUWT and the EIS show that staff also experience some levels of gender-based violence.
This by no means explains the whole issue, but one of the causes of violence against women and girls in schools is that generations of boys and young men have received some kind of sex and relationship education that did not focus on the principle of consent and, in many cases, did not include education on consent at all. The inquiry that the Education and Skills Committee in the previous parliamentary session did on personal and social education in schools was the first piece of work that I proposed when I was elected. Our report concluded that it is clear that consent is not covered consistently in PSE across Scotland.
If we want to eradicate rape culture and gender-based violence from our schools, it is essential that every young person—especially young boys and men—learns about the principle of consent. I am glad that, in response to that report, the Government initiated its review and commissioned refreshed guidance for the delivery of relationships and sexual health education. That refreshed guidance is almost ready. The current guidance, which has been in use since 2014, makes only one minor reference to the importance of consent, whereas the first draft of the new guidance starts with a substantive section dedicated to the principle of consent, boundaries and healthy relationships. Age and stage-appropriate education for boys and young men is essential to tackling gender-based violence in schools.
A firm approach to violence in schools, especially gender-based and bigoted attacks, is not mutually exclusive from recognising that children and young people who are responsible for those attacks are often in desperate need of help. Too often, it is easy to use zero tolerance as a soundbite in the absence of policies that would address the cause of a pupil’s violent behaviour. We know the link between adverse childhood experiences and social, emotional and behavioural issues. We recognise that precarious housing, living with adults who are suffering from addiction issues, poverty and plenty of other situations in childhood are adverse experiences.