Sexual Harassment & Sexual Violence Workshops for Schools, Colleges, Universities and Staff Training
2020 Dreams Sexual Harassment Workshops help young people recognise unacceptable sexual behaviour, understand consent and boundaries, challenge harmful attitudes and develop the confidence to respond safely when harassment, pressure or sexual violence occurs.
Our Sexual Harassment Workshops for Schools are designed as part of a wider prevention approach. Sexual harassment does not sit in isolation from relationships, consent, misogyny, online behaviour or Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). Young people need to understand not only what behaviour is unacceptable, but also the attitudes, peer dynamics and relationship patterns that can allow it to become normalised.
The programme therefore connects directly with Healthy Relationships Workshops, Consent Workshops, VAWG Workshops, Misogyny Workshops and Manosphere Workshops.
Sessions are discussion based, safeguarding led and age appropriate. We avoid graphic descriptions, victim-blaming and fear-based teaching. Pupils are not asked to disclose personal experiences publicly. Instead, carefully designed scenarios allow participants to examine behaviour, consent, pressure, bystander choices and routes to support without placing anybody in the room under unnecessary pressure.
Core Features of Our Sexual Harassment Workshops
- What sexual harassment is
- What sexual violence and sexual assault are
- Consent, boundaries and sexual ethics
- Healthy versus unhealthy relationship behaviour
- Sexual comments, jokes and unwanted sexualised attention
- Unwanted touching and physical boundary violations
- Sexual pressure, coercion and manipulation
- Misogyny, sexism and sexual entitlement
- Manosphere narratives and harmful online influence
- VAWG and gender-based harm
- Child-on-child sexual harassment
- Online sexual harassment and image-based abuse
- Sexting, intimate image pressure and non-consensual sharing
- Cyberflashing and unwanted sexual content
- AI-generated sexual images and deepfake abuse
- Pornography, sexual expectations and distorted norms where age appropriate
- Bystander responsibility and safer intervention
- Supporting a friend without becoming their counsellor
- Reporting, disclosure and safeguarding routes
- Staff Sexual Harassment Training
What Are Sexual Harassment Workshops?
Sexual Harassment Workshops are preventative education sessions that help participants understand unwanted sexual behaviour, consent, dignity, boundaries, harassment, sexual violence and the wider attitudes that can influence behaviour.
A strong Sexual Harassment Workshop should answer practical questions. Is a sexual joke still harassment if somebody says they were “only messing around”? What if somebody repeatedly comments on another person’s body? Can somebody withdraw consent after initially agreeing? What if a friend shares a sexual image without permission? Is filming or forwarding sexual content part of the harm? What should a bystander do if they see somebody being pressured?
The aim is not simply to provide a list of prohibited behaviours. Participants learn how respect, communication, consent, power, peer pressure and online culture interact, and how safer choices can interrupt harm earlier.
Why Sexual Harassment Education Matters in 2026
Sexual harassment and sexual violence remain significant safeguarding concerns. The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that around 900,000 people aged 16 and over experienced sexual assault, including attempts, in the year ending March 2025. The estimated prevalence was 3.0% for females and 0.7% for males.
Younger adults are particularly relevant to education settings. The Office for National Statistics found that people aged 16–34 had a higher prevalence of sexual assault in the previous year than those aged 35 and over, and full-time students had a higher prevalence than people in any other occupation category measured.
Sexual assault
Estimated number of people aged 16+ who experienced sexual assault, including attempts, in the year ending March 2025.
Females
Estimated proportion of females aged 16+ experiencing sexual assault in the previous year.
Males
Estimated proportion of males aged 16+ experiencing sexual assault in the previous year.
Higher prevalence
People aged 16–34 had a higher prevalence of sexual assault in the previous year than people aged 35+.
Women and girls experience a disproportionate share of sexual violence, while boys and men can also experience sexual harassment and assault and must know that support is available to them. Prevention should recognise the gendered reality of VAWG without suggesting that every boy is a potential perpetrator or every girl is a potential victim.
Sexual Harassment Sits Within a Wider Relationship Culture
The page should not treat sexual harassment as a standalone list of offences. In schools and colleges, behaviour often develops within a wider culture of language, relationships, peer approval and online influence.
That does not mean every sexist joke inevitably leads to sexual violence. It does mean that repeated boundary-testing, sexual entitlement, coercive attitudes and peer approval can make more serious behaviour easier to dismiss or normalise.
The Respect-to-Harm Continuum
| RESPECT | Healthy relationships begin with equality, communication and boundaries. People listen, respect “no” and do not treat access to another person’s body or attention as an entitlement. |
| PRESSURE | Pressure can make apparent agreement unreliable. Guilt, persistence, emotional blackmail, intoxication and group dynamics can undermine free choice. |
| BOUNDARY TESTING | Repeated “small” violations can test what will be tolerated. Sexual comments, unwanted touching, image requests or persistent messages may be dismissed as banter even where the recipient is uncomfortable. |
| HARASSMENT | Unwanted sexual behaviour can violate dignity and create an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. This can happen face to face or online. |
| COERCION / CONTROL | Pressure may become manipulation, intimidation, threats or coercive behaviour. Consent obtained through fear or coercion is not freely given. |
| SEXUAL VIOLENCE | Sexual assault, rape and other forms of sexual violence require safeguarding and potentially criminal-justice responses. Responsibility lies with the person committing the harmful act. |
The continuum is a discussion tool, not a prediction model. It helps pupils understand how respectful relationships differ from pressure, harassment and violence, and where intervention can occur earlier.
Sexual Harassment, Consent and Boundaries
Consent is one of the clearest connections between sexual harassment prevention and wider relationships education. Pupils need more than the phrase “no means no”. They need to understand how consent is communicated, how it can be withdrawn, why silence is not automatically agreement and how pressure can undermine a person’s ability to choose freely.
Our Sexual Harassment Workshops reinforce the same practical principles developed in our dedicated Consent Workshops:
- Consent must be active and freely given
- Consent can be withdrawn
- Agreeing to one activity does not mean agreeing to everything
- Previous consent does not create future entitlement
- Persistence is not the same as consent
- Guilt, threats or manipulation undermine free choice
- Intoxication can affect capacity to consent
- Online sexual behaviour also requires consent and respect
Healthy Relationships: Building the Positive Alternative
Prevention works better when pupils are shown what healthy behaviour looks like, not only what they must avoid. A page about sexual harassment should therefore connect clearly with Healthy Relationships Workshops.
Healthy relationships are characterised by mutual respect, communication, trust, equality, boundaries, privacy, consent, freedom to say no, no expectation of sexual access and the ability to disagree without intimidation.
The revised statutory RSE guidance for secondary schools explicitly places sexual harassment and sexual violence within wider teaching about respectful relationships, consent, coercion, abuse and online behaviour. This is why this page should not be built as a standalone “sexual offences awareness” page.
Sexual Harassment, VAWG and Gender-Based Harm
Sexual harassment is a core part of the wider Violence Against Women and Girls prevention landscape. The government’s current VAWG strategy places prevention, healthy relationships, consent and challenging misogyny at the centre of efforts to reduce violence and abuse.
Our VAWG Workshops provide the broader context, connecting sexual harassment with misogyny, coercive control, teenage relationship abuse, stalking, sexual pressure, online abuse, intimate image abuse, positive masculinity and bystander responsibility.
Sexual harassment can affect people of any sex or gender. At the same time, prevention should be able to discuss the gendered patterns of harassment and sexual violence honestly, without blaming boys collectively or placing responsibility on girls to manage other people’s behaviour.
Misogyny, Sexual Entitlement and the Manosphere
Schools increasingly report concern about misogynistic language, sexual entitlement and online content that presents relationships as a contest for dominance or status. These attitudes can shape how some pupils talk about women, consent, rejection and sexual access.
Our Sexual Harassment Workshops can examine ideas such as persistence being framed as romantic, rejection being treated as humiliation, men being expected to dominate relationships, women owing attention or sex, sexual comments being dismissed because others laugh, consent being presented as unnecessary, and sharing intimate images being treated as status.
Where these attitudes are the main concern, schools can use dedicated Misogyny Workshops and Manosphere Workshops.
Online Sexual Harassment, Intimate Images and Digital Abuse
Sexual harassment increasingly crosses between offline and online spaces. A comment made in a corridor may continue through messages that evening. An image created consensually may later be shared without consent. A pupil may receive unwanted sexual content, be pressured for nudes, have a fake sexual image created or experience sexual rumours spread through a group chat.
- Unwanted sexual messages
- Repeated requests for intimate images
- Non-consensual sharing of intimate images
- Sexual rumours and humiliation
- Cyberflashing or unwanted sexual content
- Sexualised group-chat behaviour
- AI-generated sexual images and deepfakes
- Pressure to film or photograph sexual activity
- Sextortion and threats involving intimate material
For specialist digital delivery, see our Sexting Workshops and Online Safety Workshops.
Pornography, Sexual Expectations and Harassment
The revised RSE guidance recognises that sexually explicit material can present a distorted picture of sexual behaviour and negatively affect how people behave towards sexual partners. Where age appropriate, Sexual Harassment Workshops can therefore examine the difference between pornography, performance and healthy real-life sexual behaviour.
The aim is not to shame pupils who have encountered pornography. Instead, participants explore how repeated exposure can shape expectations about consent, bodies, performance, aggression, sexual entitlement and pressure to copy acts.
Schools requiring greater depth can use our dedicated Pornography Workshops.
What Sexual Harassment Can Look Like
Sexual harassment can be verbal, physical or online. Context matters, but examples can include unwanted sexual comments, sexual jokes directed at somebody, comments about bodies or sexual activity, sexualised name-calling, unwanted touching, persistent requests for sex or sexual images, spreading sexual rumours, sexualised bullying, unwanted sexual messages or images, non-consensual recording or sharing, cyberflashing and persistent unwanted sexualised contact.
Some behaviours may also amount to criminal offences or require immediate safeguarding action. Pupils are taught that they do not need to decide the legal classification themselves; they need to know when behaviour is unsafe, unwanted or concerning and how to access appropriate support.
Sexual Violence, Sexual Assault and Rape
Sexual Violence Workshops require particular sensitivity. Pupils should understand that sexual assault and rape are serious offences and that responsibility lies with the person committing the act.
The latest ONS analysis also challenges the persistent “stranger danger” stereotype. Among people who had experienced rape or assault by penetration since the age of 16, around 43% said the perpetrator in the most recent incident was a partner or ex-partner, while around 16% said the perpetrator was a stranger.
This is why prevention must include relationships, consent, coercion, respect and recognising abuse by somebody known to the victim—not simply advice about avoiding strangers.
Challenging Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Myths
Consent requires free agreement. Silence, freezing, pressure or uncertainty should not be treated as automatic consent.
Consent to create or send an image is not consent for somebody else to share it.
Sexual harassment can also be verbal or online and can have significant impact.
Official victimisation data shows that many victims know the person who assaulted them.
Boys and men also have boundaries and can experience sexual harassment and assault.
Good communication and respect are characteristics of healthy relationships.
Bystander Skills: NOTICE → INTERRUPT → SUPPORT → REPORT
Young people are often witnesses before adults are. A friend may see the message, hear the comment, be present when somebody is pressured or receive the image that has been forwarded.
| NOTICE | Recognise when something has crossed a boundary. Do not rely only on whether everybody else is laughing. |
| INTERRUPT | Interrupt safely where appropriate. This might mean challenging a comment, changing the situation, refusing to forward content or getting another person involved. |
| SUPPORT | Check in with the person affected. Listen without blaming, interrogating or taking control away unnecessarily. |
| REPORT | Know when adult or safeguarding support is needed. Serious harm, threats, sexual assault, image abuse or ongoing harassment should not be left for peers to manage alone. |
Supporting a Friend After Sexual Harassment or Sexual Violence
LISTEN → TAKE IT SERIOUSLY → DON’T BLAME → DON’T INVESTIGATE → INVOLVE SUPPORT
A friend can listen, believe that the concern matters and help somebody access support. They should not promise secrecy where somebody may be at risk of serious harm, and they should not confront an alleged perpetrator in a way that could increase danger.
KCSIE 2026: Child-on-Child Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence
KCSIE 2025 remains in force until 31 August 2026. KCSIE 2026 comes into force on 1 September 2026. KCSIE makes clear that sexual harassment and sexual violence can occur between children, can involve groups, can happen online or face to face, and are never acceptable.
Schools and colleges must respond to concerns through safeguarding procedures. A workshop can support prevention, understanding and culture change, but it does not replace the DSL, risk assessment, behaviour response, children’s social care or police involvement where required.
RSHE 2026: Sexual Harassment, Consent and Healthy Relationships
The revised statutory Relationships and Sex Education guidance is for introduction from 1 September 2026. It explicitly requires secondary pupils to understand what constitutes sexual harassment and sexual violence and why these behaviours are always unacceptable.
The same guidance connects the topic with positive and healthy relationships, boundaries, privacy, consent, coercion, rape and sexual assault, grooming, online behaviour, pornography and harmful stereotypes.
This reinforces the structure of this page: Sexual Harassment Workshops should connect sexual behaviour to healthy relationships, consent, online influence and VAWG rather than treating every topic as a separate silo.
The 2026 VAWG Strategy: Prevention Before Harm Escalates
The government’s current Violence Against Women and Girls strategy places prevention and early intervention at the centre of its approach. It specifically commits to helping schools challenge misogyny, teach healthy relationships and consent, address harmful online influences and support young people before harmful behaviour escalates.
The strategy also recognises external providers as one route through which schools can deliver credible healthy-relationships education. This makes the link between VAWG Workshops, Healthy Relationships Workshops, Consent Workshops and Sexual Harassment Workshops particularly important.
Sexual Harassment Workshop Overview
Sexual Harassment Workshops by Audience
Primary and Upper KS2 Foundations
For primary-age pupils, the focus should be on body autonomy, personal boundaries, privacy, healthy friendships, permission, respecting “no”, trusted adults, unwanted comments about bodies and online image safety. Primary delivery should never simply move detailed secondary sexual-harassment material down the age range.
Sexual Harassment Workshops for Secondary Schools
Sexual Harassment Workshops for Secondary Schools can address sexual comments, touching, pressure, consent, rumours, intimate images, misogyny, peer-group behaviour, pornography, manosphere influences, bystander responsibility and child-on-child safeguarding.
Sexual Harassment Workshops for Sixth Forms and Colleges
Post-16 learners may be navigating more independent relationships, nightlife, alcohol, work placements, online dating and adult social settings. Workshops can therefore explore sexual ethics, intoxication and consent, harassment, stalking, image-based abuse, supporting friends, bystander choices and reporting routes in greater depth.
Sexual Harassment Workshops for Universities
University Sexual Harassment Workshops can support Freshers programmes, halls and residences, consent campaigns, student societies, wellbeing programmes and safeguarding initiatives.
SEND, SEMH, PRUs and Alternative Provision
Sexual Harassment Workshops can be adapted using clearer language, visual prompts, concrete examples, repetition, smaller groups and additional processing time. Adaptation is based on actual learner needs rather than assumptions about diagnosis.
Staff Sexual Harassment Training
Staff Sexual Harassment Training is available for teachers, DSLs, pastoral teams, senior leaders, college and university staff, youth workers, safeguarding professionals, charities and workplace teams.
Staff sessions can cover child-on-child sexual harassment and sexual violence, patterns of behaviour, consent, coercion, harmful sexual behaviour, misogyny, online image abuse, Manosphere influence, disclosures, victim-blaming, KCSIE 2026, RSHE 2026, VAWG prevention and whole-setting response.
For bespoke INSET, CPD and professional delivery, see our Staff Sexual Harassment Training.
Related Consent, Relationships, VAWG and Misogyny Workshops
Schools, colleges, universities and organisations often combine Sexual Harassment Workshops with related programmes where the underlying relationship, gender or online issue needs greater depth.
Healthy Relationships Workshops
Respect, boundaries, communication, equality and healthy relationship expectations.
Consent Workshops
Consent, communication, withdrawal, pressure, coercion and capacity.
VAWG Workshops
Sexual harassment in the wider context of misogyny, coercive control, stalking and gender-based violence.
Misogyny Workshops
Sexist attitudes, sexual entitlement, peer culture, online misogyny and respectful alternatives.
Manosphere Workshops
Online misogyny, incel culture, sexual entitlement, algorithms and male identity.
Teenage Relationship Abuse Workshops
Coercive control, pressure, manipulation and unhealthy relationships.
Sexting Workshops
Intimate image pressure, digital consent, non-consensual sharing and image-based harm.
Pornography Workshops
Pornography, sexual expectations, consent and real-world relationships.
Online Safety Workshops
Online behaviour, privacy, harmful content, image abuse and digital safeguarding.
Sexual Harassment Workshops FAQ
Book Sexual Harassment Workshops for Your School or Organisation
Bring Sexual Harassment Workshops to your school, sixth form, college, university, youth service, charity, professional team, workplace or organisation. Tell us the age group, participant numbers, location, preferred dates and the relationship, consent, harassment or safeguarding issues you most want the programme to address.
We can deliver standalone Sexual Harassment Workshops for Schools, year-group programmes, post-16 seminars, targeted interventions or Staff Sexual Harassment Training.
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Violence and Safeguarding References
- Office for National Statistics – Sexual Offences in England and Wales: Year Ending March 2025
- Office for National Statistics – Sexual Offences Victim Characteristics
- Office for National Statistics – Nature of Sexual Assault by Rape or Penetration
- Department for Education – Relationships and Sex Education (Secondary)
- Department for Education – Keeping Children Safe in Education
- Home Office – Freedom from Violence and Abuse: VAWG Strategy