Sexual harassment in schools ‘becoming the norm’ for pupils

Cases of sexual harassment among pupils have “become the norm”, according to Wales’ chief school police officer.

Deputy Police Commissioner Claire Parmenter said she had written to school principals encouraging them to report cases.

It comes after about half of secondary school students said they had experienced sexual harassment from fellow students.

In evidence, a Senedd committee on Thursday said Colleges Wales had seen a “phenomenal increase in coverage”.

Ms Parmenter, of Dyfed Powys Police, said schools were sometimes reluctant to report cases of sexual harassment of students if convicted of “failing to cope” or “breeding the wrong culture”.

“It [sexual harassment] is widespread – part of our challenge is to encourage schools to feel comfortable reporting,” she said.

She added there was a “delicate balance” between encouraging people to report cases and dealing with them, as opposed to “unnecessarily criminalizing” young people.

Ms Parmenter said most cases of sexual harassment between students are “low-level” and there are not many high-risk cases.

But Deputy Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman said campaigns like Everyone’s Invited suggested the incidence was increasing among children and adolescents.

“The prevalence is there, but we have a situation where young people don’t want to tell their teachers about it – they certainly don’t want to tell their parents,” said Ms Blakeman, head of the Welsh Child Welfare Agency.

Pembrokeshire College’s Maxine Thomas, who represents Colleges Wales, said cases such as stalking, inappropriate touching and online bullying had all been identified.

“Colleges are seeing things we’ve never seen before and we’re seeing phenomenal increases in coverage,” she said.

Children’s Ombudsman Sally Holland told Senedd members that an increasing prevalence of sexual harassment among their peers was “likely” and more reporting was welcome.

Prof Holland referred to the uniform as a “battlefield over girls’ bodies and discussions about them” and said there was the issue of “upskirting” along with more “old-fashioned” issues such as using rulers to lift skirts.

She said young people should be involved in developing “sound policies” regarding uniforms.