‘Grassing or Grooming?’ is an evidence based intervention designed to support children to develop the skills they need to refuse and resist the grooming that is associated criminal gangs.
The Relationship Education curriculum suggests that we should teach children, "How to report concerns or abuse and the vocabulary and confidence needed to do so”. It is the development of this vocabulary that is at the heart of ‘Grassing or Grooming?’.
Having watched a film in which one character is groomed by another, children are asked to step into the role of the bystander, the victim and the perpetrator. The aim is to develop the vocabulary that bystanders can use to intervene effectively or that the victim can use to ask for help.
Time is spent discussing the best words that a bystander might use to persuade a victim that they should go and talk with a responsible adult. Simple role play activities then provide children with opportunities to practice using that vocabulary.
Evidence suggests that this type of role play is important, Herbert and Lohrmann (2011) found that active learning strategies are key to effective health education, as they allow students to apply knowledge through practice. They identified three active learning strategies which were evidenced in all effective curricula: role play, group co-operation and small group discussion.
We have seen this approach deliver positive results in our partner schools; by collecting data from pupils before and after their participation in ‘Grassing or Grooming?’ we saw a significant change in pupils response to the statement, ‘You should never ‘grass’ on someone’. There was an increase of 22% of pupils disagreeing with that statement.
We have also had positive feedback from teachers who have attended our teacher training and subsequently used the programme:
“The resources are a great tool and age appropriate”
“The training was useful and helped me to think about the language we need to teach the children to use and recognise”.
“Links in well with Yr5 stay safe materials about developing pupil voice and ability to speak up/have vocabulary. Will support with new relationship curriculum”.
If you would like more information or access to ‘Grassing or Grooming?’ please contact admin@arieltrust.com.
