The Women and Equalities Committee of the House of Commons this week published a report; ‘Attitudes to Women and Girls in Education Settings’. The report highlighted the levels of sexual harassment experienced by children, from their peers, including harassment relating to the sharing of explicit images "Some nine in 10 girls and half of boys told Ofsted that they or their peers were regularly exposed to unwanted explicit images or videos”.
167 schools across Merseyside are already taking positive steps to address this challenge. Ariel’s ‘Send me a Selfie’ programme is designed to explore this issue in primary schools as a early and preventative intervention. The programme asks children to think through the consequences sharing images and focuses on an understanding of consent. Focusing on fictional characters from our animation creates a safe space where the children feel comfortable to talk openly about the issues involved.
Ariel’s projects use techniques from forum theatre to explore the theme; our drama-based activities allow children to rehearse difficult conversations, including asking their parents for help. In our latest innovation we are supporting schools to deliver drama workshops where the parents actively take part in a session with their children, thinking through how they could best respond to the challenges of this conversation.
167 primary schools from across Merseyside have engaged in this project during the last school year and we are currently working with Merseyside Police to develop additional content for schools.
If you are a Merseyside teacher who is interested in delivering the project, please email trish@arieltrust.com for more information. The resources are free to school across Merseyside, thanks to support from Merseyside Violence Reduction partnership.
