‘Intervening early: Supporting children who use harm in Greater Manchester’ highlighted the need for more relationship education in schools and demonstrated the efficacy of two pilot programmes TLC ran last year.

The pilots were the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) programme focused on reducing VAWG in schools, and the STEPS programme focused on tackling misogyny among boys. The former was run across five schools in Tameside and the latter ran in six schools across Greater Manchester.

Both programmes advocated for education as a mean to prevent violence and misogyny.

Of the young people that participated in the VAWG pilot, 81% said they felt more confident about consent and 84% felt better able to recognise gender stereotypes.

Over half of the boys that participated in STEPS said classmates had improved in calling out unkind remarks or behaviours towards female peers.

Tameside Council’s Strategic Domestic Abuse Lead Lisa Morris spoke at the event and advocated for a whole-school approach on relationship education, embedding lessons across PSHE, English, PE, and other subjects.

Deputy Mayor Kate Green highlighted Greater Manchester’s gender-based violence plan and stressed the importance of early intervention.

TLC Group CEO Michelle Hill expressed gratitude for the receptiveness to the pilot programmes and expressed hope that relationship education can become an integral part of school curricula going forward.