Just over a quarter of schools have an internet or social media policy which makes specific reference to protecting staff and pupils from sexual harassment and violence.

With just over a quarter of schools having an internet or social media policy which makes specific reference to protecting staff and pupils from sexual harassment and violence, how does your school fair? What does your school policy say?

The Women and Equalities Committee report, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence in Schools, states in its Conclusions and Recommendations that, “The Government and schools must make tackling sexual harassment and sexual violence an immediate policy priority. (Paragraph 48)”.

Commenting on the report, published today, into the scale and impact of sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union in the UK, said, “The findings of this report are shocking but unfortunately not surprising.”

The NASUWT submitted evidence to the inquiry based on its own research, which showed that sexual harassment, including threats of sexual violence and degrading comments, is an all too frequent reality for pupils and teachers in our schools.

“Mobile phones and social media have become tools by which this abuse is often perpetrated, yet a survey of over 1,300 teachers by the NASUWT earlier this year found that only just over a quarter of schools had an internet or social media policy which makes specific reference to protecting staff and pupils from this kind of abuse”, said Chris Keates.

The report found that an effective response to such abuse, when it is reported to employers, the police or the social media providers, remains unacceptably low.

“It should be remembered that employers are actually failing in their duties under equalities law if they fail to protect women and girls from this abuse”, said Chris Keates.

She went on to add, “There is no place in our schools for sexual harassment or violence towards either pupils or staff. Yet, as the Committee states, no serious action is being taken by the Government to give schools the tools to deal with this issue”.

The General Secretary of The NASUWT believes that a failure to get to grips with this issue, and educate young people about healthy and respectful relationships, is likely to have long-lasting consequences in the fight for gender equality and an end to gender-based violence.

As the report states, the Government and Ministers must take the lead and help all schools develop a culture where the dignity, safety and self-esteem of our young people is protected from degrading abuse, and the perpetrators understand why such behaviour is completely unacceptable.