Estimates that almost two-thirds of schoolgirls and almost a third of schoolboys have experienced sexual harassment are a "significant underestimate," a Senedd committee has found. They also found children as young as nine are being sexually harassed by their peers inside and outside of school, an event "so common it’s considered normal behaviour".
Figures from Estyn revealed that 61% of female pupils and 29% of male pupils had experienced sexual harassment but the children and young people's committee in the Senedd found those figures are probably a significant underestimation because Estyn didn’t consider sexual harassment in primary schools or colleges when "sexual harassment is probably common in both". The committee was told harassment amongst pupils is so common it is often missed or considered normal by schools and many pupils don't inform their teachers fearing they won't be taken seriously.
The committee was told it can start when pupils are in Year 4. Undeb Cenedlaethol Athrawon Cymru and the National Union of Head Teachers said they see it in years 5 and 6particularly, when many pupils have mobile phones and access to the internet.
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The report states: "There is clear evidence indicating that peer on peer sexual harassment is shockingly commonplace across secondary schools. There is some evidence that it is common in colleges, and some evidence that it happens among primary school pupils too. Most sexual harassment happens online and outside school hours, but permeates into day-to-day school life too. Girls, LGBTQ+ learners and learners with other non-normative characteristics and identities are particularly at risk."
Most of the harassment takes place online, the report says making it hard for young people to escape it. Fitzalan High School in Cardiff held focus groups to discuss peer on peer sexual harassment, and found "pupils in lower years tend to be unwilling recipients of sexual imagery through their access to online gaming. More girls than boys say they have received unsolicited images. As pupils get older, girls say that this happens regularly...The issue largely occurs outside the formal education setting and often online."
Estyn had found that LGBTQ+ pupils are particularly at risk of sexual harassment, something the committee was also told along with learners with additional learning needs. Committee chair Jayne Bryant writes in the foreword to a report coming out today that: "The impact of sexual harassment on some learners is so severe that not only does it affect their learning, but it affects their relationships, mental health, life prospects and can – in the most serious of cases – lead to self-harm and suicide."
Police specifically told Ms Bryant they had concerns about the scale and severity of peer on peer sexual harassment in schools. The committee found there were no consistent definitions of sexual harassment used across different organisations.
In its conclusions, the cross-party committee has called for the Welsh Government to use a national campaign to target not only learners, but their families and school staff too, to raise awareness of behaviours considered to be sexual harassment and empower pupils to call out such behaviour with the confidence it will be dealt with correctly. In total, the report makes 24 recommendations to better protect children and young people.
Ms Bryant said: " Sexual harassment among learners is shockingly commonplace. Many schools simply don’t know how to react to sexual harassment and in some cases don’t even recognise the signs of sexual harassment. We need the Welsh Government to empower teachers, parents and pupils to support and identify when sexual harassment is happening. There is an element of ‘boys will be boys’ or ‘it’s just teasing’ and frankly, this attitude needs to change. The alternative is dire.
"The impact of sexual harassment on some learners is so severe that t not only affects their learning, it can affect their relationships, mental health, life prospects and – in the most serious of cases – lead to self-harm and suicide. We have asked a lot of the Welsh Government in this report; our young people deserve no less."
The committee also recommends that Estyn consider how schools record and respond to incidents, highlighting it as a key thing that should be looked at during school inspections. It acknowledges schools cannot be held entirely responsible for peer on peer sexual harassment but schools hold the potential to be able to lead the fight against societal attitudes.
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