How schools will tackle misogyny under new plan

This is not just about adding one more lesson to the timetable. The government's new plan says schools should play a bigger part in challenging misogyny early, before harmful attitudes settle into everyday behaviour. For pupils, that means more direct teaching about respect and healthy relationships. For teachers and school leaders, it means new support to deal with a problem many already know is affecting school life. The Education Secretary says schools will be given a practical framework to help them respond. That includes guidance, teacher training and support for parents, with the aim of building a culture where girls feel safe, boys are encouraged to question harmful messages, and respect is treated as part of daily school life rather than a one-off campaign.

The reason this matters is clear in the figures the government has chosen to highlight. In data from May, half of girls said they had heard misogynistic comments from other pupils during a single week at school. Nearly three in ten pupils in Years 10 and 11 said they had recently heard comments that made them worry about the safety of girls. Those numbers tell you this is not a fringe issue or a problem limited to a few schools. It sits in corridors, classrooms, group chats and journeys home. When misogyny is treated as banter or brushed off as normal teenage behaviour, it can shape who speaks up in class, who feels safe, and who learns to keep their head down.

The government's approach is built around the idea that respect has to be taught in more than one place. The plan talks about classroom teaching, enrichment activities, pastoral support and the interactions that happen beyond the school gates. In other words, ministers are saying this should run through the whole school day, not stop when a lesson ends. That matters because pupils do not split their lives neatly into online and offline worlds. A comment made in school can begin on social media. A harmful video watched at home can turn into a joke made in form time. If schools are being asked to respond properly, they need room to deal with the full picture rather than only the most visible incidents.

The announcement also builds on the strengthened Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum already being taught in schools. The focus is on healthy relationships, recognising harmful behaviour and understanding online risks, including deepfakes and other damaging content. For many teachers, these are sensitive topics to handle well, especially when pupils arrive with very different experiences and beliefs. To help with that, the government says it is putting £150,000 into a new RSHE expert advisory group. The plan is for specialist organisations and practitioners to create resources that help teachers deal with difficult conversations with more confidence. If that support is useful and practical, it could make a real difference in classrooms where staff want to address misogyny clearly but worry about getting it wrong.

There is also new money already attached to prevention work beyond the curriculum. Through the government's £16 million Violence Against Women and Girls Prevention Programme, two new pilots have begun. One will work with secondary pupils to improve attitudes to healthy relationships. The other will work with boys to challenge harmful attitudes and negative online influences. That second point is especially important. If policymakers are serious about reducing misogyny, the work cannot rest only on girls reporting what is happening to them. Boys need honest, thoughtful education about power, respect, consent and the kinds of online messages that try to dress prejudice up as confidence or humour.

Alongside this, the government says it is working with the Youth Endowment Fund on programmes for children aged 12 to 16. These are meant to promote respect, build resilience and offer positive role models. Future curriculum reforms are also expected to strengthen media literacy, so that young people are better able to question what they see online, spot manipulation and think critically about harmful content. For schools, that could be one of the most useful parts of the wider package. Misogyny does not spread only through face-to-face behaviour. It can be repeated and rewarded through clips, memes, edited images and influencers who sell cruelty as status. Teaching pupils how to read media critically is not an extra; it is part of keeping them safe.

For teachers, parents and pupils, the big question is what this will look like in real life. A framework and fresh resources can help, but schools will still need time, training and backing from leadership teams to make the work stick. Parents may also need support to continue these conversations at home, especially when children are meeting harmful messages on their phones long before adults know what they have seen. The announcement sits within a wider government push on misogyny, including a new partnership with major employers announced by Bridget Phillipson in her role as Minister for Women and Equalities. The bigger message is that this is being treated as a social problem, not only a school problem. That is probably the right starting point. But the test will be simple: do girls feel safer, do boys learn to reject harmful attitudes, and do schools get the backing they need to turn policy into everyday practice?