Rape Crisis England & Wales has written a joint letter to Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP - Secretary of State for Education, and Jess Phillips MP - Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, to express concerns over safeguarding victim-survivors of peer-on-peer sexual abuse in school settings.
The letter, co-signed by Leigh Day, Rights of Women, Imkaan and Centre for Women's Justice, sets out the need for robust guidance on safeguarding when child rape and sexual abuse has occurred between children in schools.
The letter highlights: the prevalence of sexual violence and abuse in schools; the harm caused by schools that are often unaware of how to deal with peer-on-peer abuse; and the risk to schools who are unwittingly breaching the Human Rights Act and the Equalities Act by not responding appropriately.
Sexual violence and abuse in schools
The 2016 Women and Equalities Committee inquiry into sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools found that:
- There were 600 rapes recorded in schools over a three-year period.
- 59% of girls and young women aged 13-21 reported facing some form of sexual harassment in school or college in the previous year
Much of the sexual violence and abuse that takes place in schools is perpetrated by other pupils, causing difficulties for schools who, without adequate and clear guidance, are responding in ways that put victims and survivors at further risk. This is particularly the case when:
- There is peer-on-peer sexual violence and abuse between primary-aged children, who are under the age of criminal responsibility.
- When any criminal justice process has ended, or hasn’t taken place.
We have heard from Rape Crisis workers that when police decide not to charge the perpetrator that schools tend to simply “go back to normal” without adequate safeguarding measures in place.
Children most at risk
All children can face sexual violence and abuse, and it is often highly traumatic and sometimes life-changing for survivors. As with all forms of sexual violence and abuse, girls are disproportionately affected by peer-on-peer sexual abuse.
Black and minoritised girls also face additional barriers to support and protection and are most impacted by the issues of hyper-sexualisation and adultification.
Guidance for schools
Schools and teachers are often unsure about what effective safeguarding interventions look like in practice because the Department for Education doesn’t offer detailed enough guidance on how to approach peer-on-peer sexual abuse after criminal justice proceedings have concluded, or when they don’t take place.
A lack of adequate statutory guidance leads to schools ultimately denying the legal rights of pupils who are victim-survivors. In addition, schools that do not appropriately tackle sexual harassment and abuse are unwittingly in breach of both the Equalities and Human Rights Act, leaving them vulnerable to legal action.
Our recommendations
To best protect victim-survivors, as well as schools and teachers, we recommend that the Government consults with specialists in the Violence Against Women and Girls sector to update and amend the statutory guidance. Guidance should:
- Offer teachers practical process maps on all possible steps they might take to effectively safeguard, with prompts, checklists, and case studies.
- Offer clarity around ascertaining if sexual violence and abuse has taken place, with the correct test applied – that is on the “balance of probabilities”.
- Offer clarity on legal duties contained in the Human Rights Act and Equalities Act to ensure teachers and schools are acting within the law.
Rape Crisis England & Wales’ CEO, Ciara Bergman says:
It's clear that schools would benefit from clearer, amended statutory guidance to protect children from sexual violence and abuse taking place between pupils in educational settings.
Frontline rape crisis workers frequently hear - and report concerns - about inappropriate and inadequate responses from schools when pupils are experiencing sexual abuse, and the lack of adequate guidance is leaving teachers and staff confused about their obligations.
When schools are unclear about their responsibilities, and fail to take appropriate action, pupils continue to be at risk of further harm and those who have reported experiencing abuse and harassment are given the message that their experiences are not important, that they're not taken seriously, and that they're not worth protecting.
Schools and teachers need support to respond to peer-on-peer abuse in a way that doesn’t further re-traumatise victims and survivors or breach their legal and ethical duties of care.
Much more clarity and detail within statutory guidance is an essential step towards supporting girls to have a better primary, secondary, and college experience – one which they are entitled to in law.