New YEF report sets out eight key actions to help schools protect pupils from violence 

One in eight secondary school teachers report that a child in their school committed sexual assault against another pupil in the past term. To help schools tackle the problem, the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) is calling for every secondary school, college and secondary alternative provision setting in England and Wales to have a dedicated lead to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG). 

This recommendation is at the heart of the YEF’s new Education Policy, Children and Violence report, which sets out bold proposals to reform and invest in the education system — giving schools the skills and resources they need to protect children from violence. 

With Labour pledging to halve violence against women and girls within a decade — and committing to ensuring schools tackle misogyny and teach healthy relationships — the need for clear, targeted action has never been greater. 

Teachers lack training and support to tackle relationship violence 

A YEF-commissioned TeacherTapp survey of 4,717 secondary school teachers in England found that 13% reported a child sexually assaulting another child in the past term.

This highlights the urgent need for school-based prevention, as seen in a separate 2024 YEF survey of 10,000 teenagers, which revealed that nearly half (49%) of 13–17-year-olds in a romantic relationship that year experienced violent or controlling behaviour — equivalent to 464,345 children in England and Wales, or 1 in 8 teenagers. 

Yet many teachers feel ill-equipped to address this issue. New TeacherTapp surveys of up to 6,000 teachers reveal: 

• Over half (55%) of secondary teachers cite a lack of confidence or expertise as the main barrier to delivering PSHE and RSHE lessons. 
• 31% of secondary teachers who teach RSHE and PSHE have never received training to teach these subjects. 
• 27% don’t feel confident teaching students how to leave unhealthy relationships. 
• 45% lack confidence in teaching how to intervene if they witness a sexual assault. 

Beyond relationship violence — 70% of teachers say they are not confident in identifying and delivering evidence-based interventions to prevent violence.  

A dedicated lead in every school to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls 

Evidence shows that school-based dating and relationship violence prevention activities — such as lessons, staff training and school-wide awareness campaigns — can reduce dating and relationship violence by an average of 17%. 

To help schools prevent relationship violence, YEF is calling for the government to: 

• Invest £1 million to pilot a Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Lead training grant across 50 schools, colleges and alternative provision settings. Modelled on existing grants for school Mental Health Leads, this initiative would fund the appointment and training of VAWG Leads to develop school-wide strategies, improve RSHE lessons, bring in specialist external providers and train other staff members. 
• Invest £35m in England and £2m in Wales to scale up the initiative if shown to be successful. This could reach all secondary schools and colleges, and 500 AP settings in England, in addition to all secondary schools, colleges and pupil referral units in Wales. 

Invest £100m and update Pupil Premium to help schools tackle violence 

In its Education Policy, Children and Violence report, the YEF outlines seven additional recommendations to strengthen the education sector’s ability to protect children from violence, including: 

• Provide £100 million over five years to deliver evidence-based violence reduction programmes for children most at risk. This could involve extending the Department for Education’s SAFE Taskforces or providing targeted funding to the 200 secondary schools, colleges, alternative provision and Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) settings in areas of England and Wales with the highest levels of violence. 
• Update Pupil Premium and Pupil Development Grant guidance in England and Wales to explicitly encourage schools to invest in evidence-based violence reduction strategies. This would help schools access proven interventions that both improve safety and support educational attainment for disadvantaged pupils. 

Jon Yates, CEO of the Youth Endowment Fund, said: “Over the past decade, schools have led the charge in breaking down the stigma around mental health and providing crucial support for young people. With the right resources, training and leadership, they can have a similar transformative impact in tackling violence against women and girls. 

He added: “Netflix’s Adolescence has shone a much-needed spotlight on the toxic influences boys are growing up with. It’s time to act. Research shows that lessons on healthy relationships can make a real difference. The Labour government has the opportunity to make a bold statement that violence against women and girls will not be tolerated.” 

The YEF’s Education Policy, Children and Violence report proposes eight key recommendations to policymakers across England and Wales to maximise the potential of the education system to keep children safe from violence.