Multi-arm cluster randomised trial assessing the impact of direct police input in the teaching of sexual consent and the law to school pupils.
| Status |
Ongoing
|
|---|---|
| Lead institution | |
| Principal researcher(s) |
Georgia Steventon
|
| Police region |
West Midlands
|
| Collaboration and partnership |
|
| Level of research |
Professional/work based
|
| Project start date |
|
| Date due for completion |
|
Research context
This project is one of three interventions currently being evaluated by the College of Policing that aim to reduce violence against women and girls. The other two are forensic marking for domestic abuse and video responses to domestic abuse.
Police officers in the classroom supporting the PHSE curriculum
Sex and relationships education (SRE) is a compulsory part of the national curriculum, but the national picture for how schools teach SRE is variable. This means there is scope for a quality police-facilitated intervention in this area.
In a previous randomised control trial from the London School of Economics (LSE), officers contributed towards the delivery of lessons on drugs and the law in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) lessons.
This research aims to build on previous research to develop a greater understanding of whether the introduction of police-facilitated lessons within schools on a different aspect of the law supports school students to perceive the police as procedurally just, fair and trustworthy in their decision-making and enforcement of the law. In this instance, the focus of the intervention is consent and the law.
Hypothesis
The research aims to answer the following research questions.
Does police input into PSHE lessons regarding sexual consent and the law:
- affect young people’s perceptions of the police as trustworthy and procedurally just?
- increase young people’s knowledge and practical understanding of consent and how the law operates in relation to it?
- support young people to feel confident in making informed choice and reporting instances where consent is breached?
Geographical area
Thames Valley, West Midlands and Hertfordshire
Target sample size
90 schools (around 11,700 young people)
Participants - inclusion criteria
30 schools per trial arm will be recruited (90 schools in total). This estimates an overall sample size of 11,700 young people. Randomisation will be taking place on a school level, to ensure all types of schools are represented in the intervention and control groups. The sample will be stratified against:
- pupil premium percentage
- whether the intervention is offered to year 9 or year 10 students
Interventions
The intervention takes place as a suite of three linked PSHE lessons on the topic of consent and the law. These have been developed by the PSHE Association and aim bring a level of consistency and clarity to the teaching of consent and the law to young people. The lessons are one hour each. They will be taught to young people aged between 13 to 15 (either year 9 or year 10 students) in English secondary schools within participating force areas.
Study design
This research is a multi-arm cluster randomised control trial of an education intervention within secondary schools in Thames Valley, Hertfordshire and West Midlands Police force areas. The relative impact of two modes of implementation of the intervention will be measured:
- where the three lessons are taught by a teacher and police officer sequentially (that is, lesson one delivered by a teacher, lesson two by a police officer and lesson three by a teacher)
- where only teachers deliver the three lessons
The new intervention (delivered in the two ways outlined above) will also be compared with school’s usual PSHE teaching on consent and the law.
Outcome measures
The evaluation will cover both process and outcome elements, incorporating a range of research methods.
Firstly, data will be collected via the provision of three questionnaires:
- prior to teaching
- after the second lesson
- three months after the intervention
Interviews will also be conducted with young people who have received the new teaching intervention.
A process evaluation will be undertaken to understand how the intervention was implemented in practice. This will include observing officer training by the PSHE Association, and observing teacher and officer led lessons. After the lessons have concluded, face-to-face interviews will be conducted with teachers and police officers involved in the intervention. This will help understand experience of being part of the intervention, elements that worked well and areas for improvement going forward.