The International Center: Researching Child Sexual Exploitation, Violence and Trafficking (University of Bedfordshire) have launched a series of resources to help schools respond to harmful sexual behaviours (HSB).
The resources are a response to the high prevalence of young people displaying HSB, from name calling to sexual bullying and sexual assault, and a recognition of the critical role schools play in setting social norms for young people. The resources seek to move beyond referrals, presenting ‘levers for addressing harmful sexual behaviours in schools’.
The resources include a traffic light assessment tool for schools to assess their own response to HSB, as well as a series of 5 webinars explaining each step of the process.
Schools, as well as multi agency practitioners and inspectorates, can use these tools to support the development and implementation of a whole-school approach. By identifying strengths and weaknesses in current practice, the tool enables schools and practitioners to further strengthen their prevention of VAWG.
All the Conextual Safeguarding team’s resources for schools can be found here: https://contextualsafeguarding.org.uk/in-practice/schools