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Education

Whether you work in a school, college or Alternative Provision setting, or work in education policy, our job is to make it easy to know what works to prevent children’s involvement in violence and help you make it happen.

At the Youth Endowment Fund, we aim to prevent children from being drawn into violence. We think any credible plan to reduce violence has to recognise that children rely on seven essential sectors to be safe, one of which is education. In each sector we are working with delivery organisations and system leaders to better understand and deliver on the changes most likely to reduce violence.  

There is so much we can all do to keep children safe. Our job is to make it easy to know what works and to help you to make it happen, whether you work in a school, college or Alternative Provision setting or in education policy or government. 

Why are we focusing on education?

  • Education settings can provide safe, trusted spaces for children. In 2024, 82% of 13–17-year-olds across England and Wales said they felt safe at school, while only 5% believed school to be unsafe.
  • Education settings can offer evidence-based support to reduce children’s involvement in violence. Where resources are available, these settings can offer mentoring, sports, social and emotional skills development, relationship violence prevention activities and more. These activities can help keep children safe from violence.
  • Education settings safeguard children by identifying problems, providing support and signposting to specialist help. As the one service that all children should interact with, they are well-placed to notice issues early and provide well-informed responses.

Toolkit evidence

See below evidence from the YEF Toolkit about approaches to reducing violence that are often used in the Education sector:


Estimated impact approaches evidence quality
HIGH
(30%+ less violence)
Social skills training
1 2 3 4 5
Sports programmes
1 2 3 4 5
Trauma-specific therapies  
1 2 3 4 5
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
1 2 3 4 5
MODERATE
(10%-30% less violence)
Relationship violence prevention lessons and activities
1 2 3 4 5
Bystander interventions to prevent sexual assault
1 2 3 4 5
Mentoring
1 2 3 4 5
LOW
(2%-9% less violence)
After-school programmes
1 2 3 4 5
Anti-bullying programmes
1 2 3 4 5
Interventions to prevent school exclusion
1 2 3 4 5
Adventure and Wilderness Therapy
1 2 3 4 5
NO CLEAR EVIDENCE
Knife crime education programmes
1 2 3 4 5
Police in schools
1 2 3 4 5
Trauma-informed training and service redesign
1 2 3 4 5
Arts programmes
1 2 3 4 5
HARMFUL
(increased violence)
Prison awareness programmes
1 2 3 4 5

Explore more approaches on YEF’s Toolkit summarising the best available research evidence on preventing children and young people’s involvement in violence.

Change the system

How should the education system change to better prevent violence?


We have published a report that provides education policy makers in England and Wales with eight recommendations on what they can do to prevent children’s involvement in violence. These recommendations draw from the best available international evidence, three reviews of policy and practice, and the insights and expertise of our strategic advisory group for education.

Our Strategic Advisory Group for Education

Claire Heald
Director of Education / Academies Enterprise Trust
David Hughes CBE
CEO / Association of Colleges
Dheeraj Chibber
Luton Corporate Director, Children, Families and Education
Gill LaRocque
Head Teacher / Saffron Valley Collegiate
Hamid Patel
Sir Hamid Patel CBE
Chief Executive / Star Academies
Kiran Gill
CEO / The Difference
Leora Cruddas CBE
CEO / Confederation of School Trusts
Martha
Youth Advisory Board member
Sir Martyn Oliver
Chief Inspector / Ofsted
Natalie Perera
CEO / Education Policy Institute
Owen Evans
Chief Inspector / Estyn
Pepe Di’lasio
General Secretary / Association of School and College Leaders
Dame Rachel de Souza
Children’s Commissioner for England / Children’s Commission
Sarah Johnson
President / National Organisation of PRUs and APs

Find out how you can get involved with YEF

You are invited to join our events specifically for the education sector, to see how we can collectively prevent children’s involvement in violence.


Get Involved – YEF Education News

If you’re passionate about improving opportunities and outcomes for young people, and would like to learn more about what works to prevent children’s involvement in violence, then sign-up below to get the latest updates and opportunities.







We are funding a wide range of projects exploring key questions related to topics including social skills, absence, exclusion, behaviour and police in schools. Projects include new evaluations, secondary data analysis projects and systems research. 

View all of YEF’s Funding and Evaluation projects.