Should Scottish schools adopt misogyny lessons?

Teachers in England will now be sent on training courses to help spot and tackle misogyny in the classroom.

High-risk pupils could also be sent on behavioural courses as part of the UK Government’s strategy to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade.

This will include topics such as consent, the dangers of sharing intimate images and how to identify positive role models. Ultimately, it aims to challenge unhealthy myths about women and relationships.

A lot of the misogyny education drive comes after the hit Netflix series ‘Adolescence’. | Netflix

I am struggling to reconcile that this story is being written in 2025 after years of apparent progress for feminism and equality.

Yet government ministers have conceded this is a serious issue (although they probably could have saved a lot of time and money by just listening to what women have been saying for years) and what better way to stop misogyny in its tracks than by preventing young men from becoming violent in the first place?

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However these new training courses do not extend as far north as Scotland. Up here, neither teachers nor pupils who are classified as high-risk will be sent on specialised training courses.

When I asked the Scottish Government if it was going to replicate what has been introduced in England, I was told the government issued guidance on “responding to gender-based violence in schools” last year instead.

The spokeswoman said: “There is no place for misogyny in Scotland’s schools. We all want our schools to be safe places for children and young people to learn and for teachers and staff to work.”

That is a great sentiment, as there is no place for misogyny anywhere in Scotland, never mind somewhere that should be safe and nurturing like a school.

But it is ultimately up to individual schools and teachers to decide what they should and should not teach when it comes to this issue.

Normally I would agree that teachers are the experts here and should therefore be trusted above government ministers, but in this instance it could lead to a postcode lottery on tackling misogyny.

The government spokeswoman said: “Relationships, sexual health and parenthood education aims to equip young people with knowledge and understanding of issues such as consent, appropriate relationships and boundaries to help them make informed choices that promote and protect their own and others’ health and wellbeing.

“Teachers have flexibility under curriculum for excellence to use their professional judgement to choose topics that meet the needs of children and young people.”

One of the problems here is the way young men are becoming influenced - a lot of it takes place outside the classroom, and a lot of it takes place online.

Earlier this year legislation came into effect to introduce age checks online to stop young people accessing harmful content.

In some respects this is working, as UK-based traffic to porn sites has dropped since the age checks became mandatory in the summer. However the use of VPN software to bypass these restrictions has surged, so it might not be working as well as it first seems.

This is the challenge teachers are up against. While the new training courses unveiled down south might not be wholly successful, I really hope Scotland does not fall behind here on an issue that cannot be left on the back-burner.