Surge in secondary teachers enrolling on sexual harassment training programme 

Training will cover areas such as online material and online harassment as well as online intimate abuse.

There has been a surge in the number of secondary school teachers seeking to be enrolled on sexual harassment training through the Bystander Intervention Programme

From an initial seven schools involved in Cork City, there are now 70 schools embarking on the training in the coming weeks so they can teach it to their transition year students.

The programme was initially piloted for students of law, nursing, midwifery and applied psychology at University College Cork, having been developed by professor of law at UCC, Louise Crowley.

It addresses the prevalence of sexual harassment and violence by empowering participants to recognise unacceptable behaviour and to then intervene accordingly.

The programme has already been hailed as a success at third-level, where there has been an increased focus on sexual harassment and associated behaviour, but Prof Crowley said recent months had seen a huge growth in the number of secondary teachers hoping to teach the programme in their schools.

She said the teachers enrolling teach a variety of subjects, and it is not just limited to RSE teachers.

"We are hoping it is going to be phenomenal and the Department [of Education] will be tracking it to see the impact of it on the students," she said.

The initial training offered to teachers in the Cork schools was part of a pilot project funded by the Irish Research Council.

However, Prof Crowley said the requests from other schools — "from Donegal to West Cork to Galway" — indicates a growing willingness by schools and their principals to address issues around sexual harassment and consent.

Online intimate abuse

Prof Crowley said the training offered would also cover areas such as online material and online harassment as well as online intimate abuse, describing this online element as "key", particularly in light of younger people also accessing pornography.

Prof Crowley said the increase in training is about reaching people at a younger age and she suggested the programme could be tailored to even younger age groups at second level if there is a desire for it.

It comes amid an increased focus on addressing harassment on campuses, with Freedom of Information data from third-level institutions showing at least 24 complaints of sexual harassment in colleges in the past two years, with some of those allegations still under investigation.

Prof Crowley said the sector had the ability to lead the way in addressing these issues and revealed that many major workplaces have been in contact about taking on the Bystander programme.

There is a huge appetite in workplaces to bring the learning to the workplace, to make it a safer place and give people the tools to make society more broadly a safer place."

The programme started at UCC and the college said last month the university launched a new online resource where students and staff can anonymously report incidents of sexual harassment, misconduct and unacceptable behaviour through the Speak Out website.

UCC said data collected would be used to inform policy and targeted initiatives and would support its ambition for a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment and violence.