School kids to be taught not to hit women
Preventing violence in relationships will be taught in class
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Wednesday, 25, Nov 2009 04:50
By politics.co.uk staff
Classes teaching children to prevent violence in relationships will be included in the school curriculum, according to government plans announced today.
In a major strategy announcement, ministers revealed the newest stage of their efforts to combat violence against women, with calls for dedicated classes and a major publicity campaign to change attitudes.
"Violence against women and girls is an obscenity," Gordon Brown said.
"That is why we are taking action to bring perpetrators to justice and protect and support victims, but also to challenge the attitude that attacks on women and girls are in any way acceptable."
Comment: Rap, not government, will teach our children
From 2011, preventing violence in relationships will be included in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, with an aim to tackling attitudes which condone violence against women at the root.
The new year will see over £13 million of funding to help support victims of sexual and domestic violence and the development of a national communications strategy designed to address attitudes towards violence against women among all members of the public.
The plans mark a clear shift in focus, with prevention now taking centre-stage of the government's attempts to tackle the problem.
The seriousness with which the matter is being treated was evidenced the calibre of the minister sent out to sell the new strategy today. The prime minister, home secretary Alan Johnson, women's minister Harriet Harman and schools minister Ed Balls were all out to support the measures.
In addition to the heavy-weight nature of the spokespeople, the large turnout also reflected the government's commitment to treating violence against women holistically, with a broad approach covering a multitude of different government sectors.
"Much has been done over recent years to increase protection for women and to prosecute their attackers," Mr Johnson said.
"However, this is a complex problem which demands an even broader response to stop violence from happening in the first place."
There will be a four-fold increase in Family Intervention Projects to support 10,000 families a year, the government announced.
The Training and Development Agency for Schools will address violence against women in the review of professional standards for teachers in 2010, to help ensure teachers have the skills they need to tackle violence against women and girls.
A dedicated stalking and harassment helpline will be established and a new online directory of services for victims of violence against women will complement new funding for a 24-hour sexual violence helpline.
The funding is expected to be found from other spending programmes.
Today's package included some elements of the government's ongoing rape review, the rest of which will come out in the new year, although ministers were quick to accept that the success level on rape is not as successful as they had hoped.
The scale of violence against women is difficult to measure but the British Crime Survey estimates around a million women experience at least one incident of domestic violence a year.