Children as young as 11 who exhibit misogynistic behaviour will be taught to differentiate between pornography and real-life relationships under a new initiative aimed at tackling misogyny in schools across England, according to The Guardian.
The programme, which forms part of a broader government strategy, will empower teachers to refer pupils considered at risk of harmful behaviour to specialist behavioural courses, while also equipping educators with training to intervene when troubling conduct is observed.
As part of the government’s strategy, teachers will be able to send young people at risk of causing harm on behavioural courses, and will be trained to intervene if they witness disturbing or worrying behaviour.
UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, announcing the strategy, said: “Every parent should be able to trust that their daughter is safe at school, online and in her relationships. But too often toxic ideas are taking hold early and going unchallenged.”
Officials have revealed the initiative will include teaching on deepfakes, image-based abuse and online harassment.
The courses will also include teaching sessions on coercion, peer pressure, porn literacy – including identifying the difference between fantasy and real relationships – and stalking.
It will align with the new RSHE (Relationships, Sex and Health Education) curriculum, which will become mandatory for state schools from September 2026 and will feature updated teaching on AI literacy, deepfakes and online harms.
In addition, secondary schools will receive support to address misogyny and encourage healthy relationships.
In a new pilot scheme, specialist professionals will work with teachers to help pupils understand consent and the risks associated with sharing explicit images.
Read the related story on the New Daily Prime: UK targets boys in new anti-violence strategy
The safeguarding minister who has played a key role in the policies, Jess Phillips said: “A strategy is just words. And we know words are not enough. What matters is action.”
The strategy is expected to focus on three pillars: Preventing young men being harmed by “manosphere” influencers such as Andrew Tate; Stopping abusers in England and Wales through measures such as dedicated rape and sexual offences teams and enforceable domestic abuse protection orders; £550m of funding to support victims.
However, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales Nicole Jacobs, stressed new training programmes for teachers and GPs, with referral schemes in education and healthcare, were not adequately funded to support victims who had already been identified.
“Today’s strategy rightly recognises the scale of this challenge and the need to address the misogynistic attitudes that underpin it, but the level of investment to achieve this falls seriously short,” Nicole Jacobs said.
“There is still no long-term sustainable funding for specialist services to ensure victims can actually access support in their area, despite the fact many of these measures will likely drive up referrals; overburdened schools on the frontline of the insurgence of misogyny are not being equipped with the infrastructure they need to safeguard child victims of domestic abuse.”
Alex Davies-Jones, the deputy prime minister, and victims minister will convene a national summit on the problems faced by men and boys next year.
For more details, visit New Daily Prime at www.newdailyprime.news
