Schoolchildren as young as 12 are being sexually harassed by peers with half of secondary pupils in Wales reporting personal experience of peer-on-peer sexual harassment, including being asked to share nude photos.
Teachers don’t realise the extent of sexual harassment between pupils and most of it happens outside class time, a report from inspectorate Estyn found.
Twice as many girls than boys say they have been subject to either face-to-face or online harassment, including being criticised for their appearance or asked to share naked photos.
Read more: School bans girls from wearing all skirts saying they wear them too short
The education watchdog spoke to 1,300 pupils aged between 12 and 18 with around half saying they have personal experience of some form of peer-on-peer sexual harassment.
Chief inspector for schools Claire Morgan said she was "extremely concerned" by the findings. Pupils told inspectors they want teachers and school staff to understand how common peer on peer sexual harassment is and take steps to stop it.
Although they acknowledged it’s wrong many boys said sharing nude photographs of girls among their friends and boasting about the number of nude photographs they have in their possession is “commonplace”.
School skirts are often an issue. Girls said they feel pressured to wear uniform skirts very short but that this can lead to unwanted attention and boys upskirting them, making comments, or even trying to touch them.
Girls and boys take part in body-shaming one another and LGBT pupils report almost daily comments about their looks and identity.
Although the most common peer-on-peer sexual harassment in school is catcalling, making homophobic comments, and comments about the body, most girls asked said that boys asking for nude photos of them was “a regular occurrence”.
One pupil told inspectors:“ It is a daily occurrence – it is very common. Boys ask for nudes or keep spamming your phone.”
The report – titled 'We don’t tell our teachers': Experiences of peer-on-peer sexual harassment among secondary school pupils in Wales – was commissioned by the Welsh Government in response to a request from the education minister last summer after 91 schools were named in testimonies online.
Inspectors spoke to pupils in 35 maintained and independent schools going to at least one secondary in every local authority area in Wales.
Schools “generally deal well with serious incidences” but because pupils often don’t feel able to report instances to staff this limits their understanding of the extent of the issue, the 55-page report warned.
“Sexual harassment is a societal problem and schools often deal with issues that originate from outside of school.
“Estyn found that secondary schools in Wales need to engage more effectively with pupils to recognise and proactively prevent sexual harassment from happening between pupils.”
Some pupils said they had had no sex and relationship education at all and inspectors heard that young people don’t have enough opportunities to discuss sexuality and healthy relationships.
Schools that deliver personal and social education well make it easier for young people to report harassment, inspectors said.
Homophobic bullying
"LGBTQ+ pupils have substantial personal experiences of verbal homophobic harassment, with many saying that homophobic bullying is happening all the time and that this is the most common type of harassment in their school," the report said.
Nearly all pupils comment to some degree on homophobic name-calling in school corridors which often pupils and a few teachers identify as “just banter”.
“Every time we walk down the corridor someone will call names at us," said one pupil.
Sexual harassment has become 'normalised'
Young people told Estyn that peer-on-peer sexual harassment has become normalised and almost expected.
Their behaviours and attitudes are significantly influenced by what they see happening on social media and they turn more to the internet for support and guidance rather than talking with parents or other adults.
Pupils said teachers don't take peer-on-peer sexual harassment seriously enough and often dismiss incidences as trivial or encourage pupils to ignore them.
A majority of female pupils (61%) reported having personal experience of peer-on-peer harassment and many (82%) said they had seen others experience it. This compares with a lower proportion of male pupils (29% and 71% respectively).
Sex education
Pupils of all ages in secondaries said they have not had enough sex and relationships education.
"Older pupils in many schools report that they have had no sex education at all and are very keen for more advice and guidance and opportunities to discuss sex and relationships," Estyn said.
Catcalling by boys and girls
Pupils feel pressured to look a certain way and some are subjected to name-calling such as “cow” or “fatty” and remarks such as “starve yourself” or “hide your stretch marks”.
"In a few instances there is more targeted bullying between girls where they spread rumours about other girls’ sexual activity, dare other girls to have sex, or send photos of themselves in their underwear. Girls then share these photos around and call them names such as 'slag' and 'slut'," the report said.
Wales' chief inspector of schools Claire Morgan said: “‘Every single pupil who shared their experiences with our inspectors took a huge step forward in bringing these issues to light.
“I want to thank them for their openness and bravery in engaging in difficult conversations. I’m extremely concerned by our findings and I know that teachers, parents and pupils will also be worried.
"There’s a lot to do – more staff training, adopting a preventative approach across all schools, and tackling issues on a national level.
"The report will be particularly important to schools as they prepare for the health and wellbeing aspects of Curriculum for Wales and in particular relationships and sexuality education.”
Headteachers respond
Eithne Hughes, Director of the Association of School and College leaders said: “Schools will find the criticism levelled at them in Estyn’s report both frustrating and unfair as they put huge effort into placing the wellbeing of their students at the very heart of everything they do.
“The central issue here is that many young people regard this kind of abhorrent behaviour as normal, with around half of those taking part in this study having had personal experience of peer-on-peer sexual harassment and a disturbing 82% of female learners being aware of other students experiencing it.
“The report highlights the vicious circle that schools find themselves caught in, with young people wanting them to be more proactive and take preventative steps to crack down on sexual harassment but teachers and leaders being unaware of the extent of the problem because students do not report incidents to them.
"That is exacerbated by the fact many of the incidents take place outside of school settings, with students feeling it is inappropriate to involve their school in dealing with it.
“Schools clearly have a role to play in helping break down the barriers that currently prevent learners from reporting incidents of sexual harassment through the delivery of effective and consistent personal and social education, but they cannot be expected to do so alone.
“It is totally unreasonable for Estyn to imply this is a problem only schools should have to deal with. They are a microcosm of society and the important issues raised in this report can only be dealt with by there being an open and wide-ranging national discussion that involves not only teachers and leaders, but parents, the social media platforms where so much of the abuse takes place, the Welsh government and, most importantly, young people.”
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