Healthwatch Suffolk reveals how many students have witnessed sexual harassment and homophobia in county’s schools and colleges

Sexual harassment is becoming a significant concern in schools and colleges across the county, according to a Suffolk health watchdog.

A survey of more than 13,000 young people, carried out by Healthwatch Suffolk, revealed that 2,100 had seen the sharing of images or videos of other students of a sexual nature.

The research also showed that just under 3,900 young people had seen or heard people using homophobic language and 1,768 had witnessed other ‘unwanted sexual behaviour’.

Worryingly only a third of those surveyed said they would feel confident enough to report sexual harassment.

Wendy Herber, independent chair of Healthwatch Suffolk, said: “It is fair to assume from our data that sexual harassment is a significant, commonplace, and increasing, concern in all schools and colleges.

“It is therefore important that education leaders and local systems strive to create environments where sexual harassment and abuse of any form is not tolerated to better protect young people.”

Fiona Ellis, chief executive officer of Survivors in Transition, a support centre for those who have experienced sexual abuse, said: “From our service provision we have seen the numbers of young people needing support around sexual violence, especially peer on peer abuse and harassment increasing year on year at alarming rates.

“We also see large numbers of young people disengaging from the criminal justice processes, or just not reporting incidents of sexual violence.

“Sadly, for many young women in particular, this is becoming a cultural norm, as was reported in Ofsted's 2021 rapid review of sexual abuse in schools.

“We hope that these stark findings will inform a different kind of conversation and that as a system we begin to acknowledge the knock-on effect this abuse will have on these young people in years to come, and how we support them and challenge these behaviours in our schools and communities.”

The findings surrounding sexual harassment in schools and colleges were part of wider research into the state of young people’s wellbeing in Suffolk.

Children and teenagers, aged between 11 to 19 and up to 25 for those with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), answered questions with the aim of identifying where additional support could help to improve the wellbeing of students.

The findings highlighted the groups of young people more likely to struggle with their wellbeing and be unhappy at school or college.

These groups included; young people who did not identify with binary gender categories, LGBTQ+ young people, and those who said they had additional support needs.

Other key findings from the Healthwatch Survey:

- Thirty-seven per cent of young people had ‘moderate’ or ‘severe’ anxiety levels in 2023, compared to 41 per cent in 2022.

- Just one in three young people felt optimistic about their future.

- Nearly a quarter were either ‘worried’ or ‘very worried’ about the rising cost of living on their lives, and the lives of their families.

- Twelve per cent were vaping at the time of the survey, and more than 300 said they were addicted to it.

- Those who felt they had someone to talk to about their wellbeing at school and college were three times less likely to experience low wellbeing, and much less likely to be unhappy with school.