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Thoughts from a young activist on Equally Safe at School (ESAS)

Here at Rape Crisis Scotland, we know that education is key in preventing sexual violence. Yet, recent research has found that young people in Scotland are not getting the guidance they need from schools around healthy relationships, and instead young women and girls are turning to social media for advice or learning from their own (often negative) experiences.

Of the nearly 500 young women and girls surveyed in the Rise Report, not one participant described feeling well supported to learn about relationships at school. For many young people these findings came as no surprise.

At just thirteen years old, Jessica from Shetland knew that more needed to be done to tackle sexual violence at her school. She was grateful for the prevention workshops delivered by The Compass Centre - Shetland’s local Rape Crisis Centre - but felt that the absence of ongoing education about sexual violence from her school made them less effective:

“There was always such a taboo about them coming into school and talking about all these subjects, my friend and I never found an issue with them and we always believed it was a great thing that they were coming in.”

Jessica knew something needed to change so she and a friend contacted the workers at The Compass Centre who helped them to set up the Bold, Equal and Empowered (BEE) group, a youth activism group that works to break the stigma around gender-based violence. Three years later, BEE have done great work through awareness-raising events such as their walk around Clickimin Loch in support of #WisToo and helping with Rape Crisis open days.

When we reached out to the BEE group to ask for their help in spreading the word about Equally Safe at School in Shetland, Jessica was excited to help.

Equally Safe at School (ESAS) is a new resource launched in August last year which takes a whole school approach to tackling gender-based violence by supporting schools to take the lead in their communities. It is an award-winning free resource, designed to complement the existing efforts of school staff and local Rape Crisis Centres. ESAS was launched as an interactive website so that schools can undertake it independently at their own pace, with staff training delivered by local Rape Crisis Centres.

Along with other members of BEE, Jessica presented to all the headteachers in Shetland at their annual meeting on why schools should introduce ESAS. For Jessica, key to preventing sexual violence in schools is students feeling supported by teachers:

“I think ESAS is great for students to know that it's there. It’s important that students feel that they're in a safe space with people that are trained in how to deal with their situation. If they don't feel that they have anyone at home or friends that they can talk to, they can talk to a teacher and they know that the teacher is going to respond respectfully and know how to deal with it further if necessary.”

ESAS has also been recognised for the inclusion of young people in its design, which Jessica says is crucial:

“I think it's important that young people are involved in the decision making on sexual violence because we’re the ones who are receiving the material.”

“A lot of the stuff that we get covered now at school is so outdated, young people just kind of shut down and don't listen. We know what's going to register better with other young people and we know what we’re going to listen to and what we’re going to know.”

Thanks to the work of Jessica and the BEE group, young people will be represented in future headteacher meetings and all the schools in Shetland are considering introducing ESAS.

Across Scotland, more than 60 schools have signed up in the year since ESAS launched. To bring about real culture change, that number must continue to climb. From Shetland to Shettleston, schools in Scotland must do more to protect young people from gender-based violence, and introducing ESAS is the first step.

To those teachers who haven’t yet signed up for ESAS or are unsure of doing so, Jessica says:

"There’s no harm in trying. If ESAS was around when I was at school, I think it would have made everyone feel a lot safer.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________

To find out more about Equally Safe at School, and to sign up to ESAS, view the ESAS website here. If you are a student, parent or guardian who would like to encourage your local school to sign up to ESAS, we've attached a template letter below.