Introducing Dr Rebecca Shaw’s vital new educational programme which aims to change the narrative of domestic abuse

Changing the Narrative of Domestic Abuse Educational Programme was launched on Friday 17 October at Wellington House, with support from West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

‘Changing the Narrative of Domestic Abuse’ is a creative, evidence-based programme of Relationships, Sex and Health Education lessons on domestic abuse aimed at secondary school students from Year 7 to Year 11. It has been designed by Dr Rebecca Shaw in partnership with Leeds City Council Healthy Schools Team; Safer Leeds; West Yorkshire Police; West Yorkshire Combined Authority; Leeds Domestic Violence Service Voices Project; +Choices; secondary school teachers; and in consultation with people with lived experience of domestic abuse.

 

This event brought together educators, policymakers, practitioners, and community voices to explore how the education system and secondary schools can play a vital role in preventing domestic abuse. They examined the impact of harmful narratives of domestic abuse, shared insights, and celebrated the launch of the new evidence-informed programme designed to support young people in recognising and responding to domestic abuse in all its forms.

Dr Rebecca Shaw

The launch began with a welcome from Dr Rebecca Shaw, project lead, who explained the origins of the project, and the importance of tackling harmful narratives of domestic abuse through education as part of any prevention strategy.

She highlighted the pervasive power of these reductive stereotypes, biases, and misconceptions about domestic abuse, and noted that these narratives serve as a significant barrier to prevention and intervention efforts. She made clear that this barrier subsequently impacts long term cultural and societal change around domestic abuse. She stated that it is important to recognise and understand how these narratives are reproduced as part of any action to tackle domestic abuse.

L-R Jude Roberts, Councillor Mary Harland, Deputy Mayor Alison Lowe

Deputy Mayor Alison Lowe, Councillor Mary Harland (Chair of the Domestic Abuse Partnership Board here in Leeds) and Jude Roberts (Head of Safeguarding and Partnerships from Leeds City Council) gave keynote speeches, emphasising the importance of education as part of both West Yorkshire and Leeds' Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategies.

This was followed by a presentation by Nicola Marlow, manager of the Leeds Domestic Violence Service Voices Project, who shared case studies from children who have experienced domestic abuse, highlighting the importance of educating children. The second half of the event comprised of small group discussion, as the attendees considered harmful narratives of domestic abuse and the most pressing harms faced by children in relation to these narratives.

Ellie McAnulty

Ellie McAnulty, the project's research assistant, then introduced the programme, sharing the animation video (which the programme centres around), and explained the lessons for each year from Years 7-11.

Senior representatives from secondary schools from across the region attended, and response to the programme from schools was overwhelmingly positive. Over 30 schools have signed up to the pilot of the programme which will commence in January next year.

An attendee said:

Thank you so much for today – it was truly an amazing and insightful event. We really appreciated the opportunity to learn more and connect with everyone involved.

The event was funded by the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.

Dr Shaw is a member of both the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies and the Centre for Law and Social Justice. She is also Deputy Lead of the Feminist Research into Violence and Abuse (FRIVA) network at the University of Leeds.