Barnardo's responds to the government's updated guidance on relationships education, relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education.
Lynn Perry, chief executive of Barnardo’s, said: “Hundreds of thousands of children and young people experience sexual abuse and assault every single year in the UK. Far too often, that sexual abuse is happening in schools or colleges, where children should feel safe.
“We welcome the government’s updated guidance on Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) – particularly the focus on preventing sexual harassment and sexual violence. A 2021 Ofsted report found that sexual harassment had become normalised with school-age children, with a horrifying 79% of girls saying they’d experienced sexual assault at school or college. We believe RSHE is vital in tackling this epidemic of violence against women and girls, building respectful relationship skills from primary school onwards.
“We also support the expanded guidance on online safety, which now better reflects the risks children face today - including exposure to pornography and other harmful online content. We now need to see professionals who are responsible for keeping children safe provided with the right level of funding, so they have the resources they need to support children at risk of both inflicting and experiencing sexual assault.
“While education is incredibly important in tackling sexual violence, it is not enough on its own. We urge the government and technology companies to take further measures to keep children safe online – including by strengthening the regulation of online content so that extreme, violent pornography is banned in the same way it is on DVDs or in magazines.”