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Gillian Keegan, the government minister responsible for education, has the power to make sure all young people get the education they need to spot the signs of abuse.

Gillian

Keegan

UK Parliament

Dear Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP,

I am writing to highlight Refuge’s joint campaign with survivor activist Faustine Petron, ‘Make it Mandatory’, which is calling for all students to receive education on domestic abuse and coercive control between the ages of 16 to 19.

Faustine is a young survivor of domestic abuse whose perpetrator received a custodial sentence in 2021 for the abuse he perpetrated against her. Faustine was shocked to learn that relationships and sex education (RSE) is not mandatory for all 16–19-year-olds in education. Faustine strongly believes that if she received education about domestic abuse and coercive control once she was 16, and forming intimate partner relationships, she would have been better able to spot the signs of coercive control, other forms of domestic abuse and know where to seek help.

Refuge, the country’s largest provider of specialist domestic abuse support services, is supporting the ‘Make it Mandatory’ campaign for change. Research commissioned by Refuge in 2022 shows that a third (30%) of young women aged 16-19 in England said they had experienced controlling or coercive behaviour in a relationship, which demonstrates the vital importance of RSE at this age.

Despite RSE becoming a mandatory part of the curriculum for years 7 – 11 in September 2020, just half (50%) of the young people surveyed said they had received education on domestic abuse and controlling or coercive behaviour during these years. Of those that did receive this education, 84% said it had helped them to recognise coercive and controlling behaviour.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) year ending March 2022, shows that women aged 16 - 19 were significantly more likely to be victims of domestic abuse than women aged 25 years and over.

This is a really important issue to me. Faustine’s experience, as well as the results of Refuge’s survey, show that far too many young people are missing out on crucial education that would not only help prevent domestic abuse, but also support young people experiences domestic abuse to recognise it know where to turn for help.

On February 14th, Refuge and the Make it Mandatory team delivered a petition with over 91,000 signatures calling for education for all 16-19-year-olds to the Prime Minister at Number 10. Education has a hugely important role to play in preventing domestic abuse. Particularly given the rise in reports of harmful and misogynistic attitudes within schools, influenced by prominent social media figure, Andrew Tate.

Will you take action now to ensure all young people receive the education they need to spot signs of abuse, know where to seek help and ultimately, prevent the misogynistic attitudes that drive domestic abuse?

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

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Domestic abuse education should be mandatory.

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