The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) is investing £2.1 million to expand and rigorously test two school-based programmes to prevent relationship and gender-based violence. 

Last year, the Department for Education updated statutory guidance for schools on relationships, sex and health education, with a greater focus on online harm and tackling misogyny. This was followed by the government’s strategy to halve violence against women and girls, which requires every secondary school to provide a credible offer on healthy and respectful relationships. Despite these expectations, UK evidence on what effectively prevents relationship and gender-based violence among teenagers remains limited. 

YEF’s new large-scale efficacy trials aim to help close that gap. 

Expanding and evaluating school programmes 

The YEF is investing £1.1 million in the delivery and independent evaluation of Brook’s London Sexual Violence Project. The universal programme will reach boys and girls in Year 9 (aged 13–14) in mainstream schools across Greater London. It includes four pupil sessions aimed at changing attitudes to dating and relationship violence, alongside a two-hour staff training session to help school staff better prevent and respond to sexually harmful behaviours. Topics covered with pupils include relationships and equality; youth-produced sexual imagery; harmful sexual behaviours; and understanding and responding to sexual harassment and violence. All sessions will be delivered by trained external facilitators from Brook. 

The University of Manchester will run an efficacy randomised controlled trial (RCT) across 64 London schools to test the programme’s impact on attitudes towards harmful behaviour in teenage relationships. 

Alongside this, YEF is investing £1 million to expand and evaluate the Salford Foundation’s Steps programme. Targeted at boys in Years 7 to 9 (aged 11–14) in mainstream schools, it aims to reduce gender-based violence by giving boys a safe space to explore and challenge harmful gender norms, misogyny and online influences. The six weekly sessions are delivered in small groups of around 15, led by trained external facilitators. 

Cordis Bright will independently evaluate Steps across 18 schools using an efficacy RCT to assess whether the programme leads to measurable changes in boys’ perceptions about gender norms. 

Building the evidence base 

The YEF’s Violence in Relationships report highlights the importance of teaching children about healthy relationships and supporting boys to challenge misogynistic attitudes. A survey of nearly 11,000 13–17-year-olds found that 28% had been in a relationship in the past year, of whom 15% reported physical or sexual abuse and 36% experienced emotional or controlling behaviour, such as a partner checking their phone or monitoring their location. While most teenagers recognise that sexual harassment is never acceptable, a small minority — more often boys — felt behaviours such as sexual jokes, commenting on someone’s appearance, or wolf-whistling were sometimes or always acceptable. 

International evidence suggests that relationship violence prevention programmes can reduce intimate partner violence among young people by around 17% on average, and bystander training can help participants safely intervene to prevent sexual assault while reducing their own involvement in such incidents by 14%. However, robust UK research in both areas remains limited. 

Through trials with Brook and the Salford Foundation, the YEF is now working to build high-quality UK evidence on whether universal school programmes can shift attitudes linked to harmful behaviour, providing schools with insights to strengthen their relationships education. 

Jake Grout-Smith, Assistant Director of Impact, Programmes and Partnerships at Youth Endowment Fund, said: “Schools play a crucial role in helping boys and girls understand healthy relationships and challenge misogynistic attitudes and behaviours. Lessons delivered by trained professionals can have a real impact. Our trials will strengthen UK evidence on universal programmes and provide schools with practical insights to support their statutory relationships and sex education.” 

Rebecca Shutt, Assistant Director of Education and Wellbeing at Brook, said: “We are delighted to receive this support from the Youth Endowment Fund for our work tackling sexual violence. Empowering young people to form healthy relationships and equipping teachers to address harmful sexual behaviours are both crucial in preventing the rise of abuse and harassment. This funding will not help Brook reach even more schools across London but also provide robust evidence of the programme’s impact on young people’s attitudes and behaviours, helping shape our work for years to come.” 

Carolina Hinojosa, Team Leader at Salford Foundation, said: “We’re pleased to receive support from the Youth Endowment Fund to expand Steps and strengthen the evidence behind our work. This programme supports the ambitions of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Gender-Based Violence Strategy and the national drive to reduce violence against women and girls by helping boys question harmful norms and build healthier attitudes. The independent evaluation by Cordis Bright will ensure we continue to learn and improve our impact.”