PSHE: Relationship violence

Despite countless convincing campaigns by the government, charities and other bodies, domestic violence is on the increase. In fact, between 2013 and 2015, it increased by some 31 per cent in England and Wales.

While some of this increase could be put down to better reporting, there is no doubt that this is an insidious and worrying trend, and something that will affect generations to come. And the truth is that it is already affecting the children we teach, both as witnesses to violence within their home and as victims in their own relationships. The evidence is compelling.

One in five children have been exposed to domestic abuse (Radford et al, 2011) and a third of these children also experienced another form of abuse. Nearly a third of all girls experience sexual violence from a boyfriend and a quarter of young women are beaten up (Barter, McCarry et al, 2009); the authors of the study concluded that sexual exploitation and emotional bullying is rife in young relationships and that sex education needs to be updated. Subsequent research suggests that young men are even more at risk as they are less likely to report it.