Professor Louise Crowley:

Good morning. I thank the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee for the invitation to meet here today to discuss consent programmes at second level. The bystander intervention programme at UCC educates and empowers staff and students to recognise all forms of sexual hostility, harassment and violence and empowers people to make safe and effective interventions. It emphasises that no level of unwanted advances or acts of abuse is acceptable and mandates a collective responsibility to demand better, by recognising and challenging all forms of misogyny, grooming, sexualised comments, sexual harassment and sexual assault. Beyond capacity to recognise behaviours and cultivating a sense of personal responsibility, the programme also emphasises the importance of knowing how and when to make a safe intervention. The considerable range of intervention options is typically a revelation for participants who come to realise that a confrontation is often the least effective approach. Rather, participants learn the value of distraction, removal, reporting, creating allies and, of course, providing support for the victim, and even how finding someone better positioned to intervene may be the best intervention in certain instances.

Ultimately, all students realise that whatever their limits, their capacities or their status, everyone has the power to take a stand and we can all be a part of the critical movement for cultural change.

With regard to young people, the Rape Crisis Network Ireland ground-breaking 2021 Storm and Stress study of adolescent experiences of sexual harassment demonstrated the shocking prevalence of sexual harassment and violence among young people. As bystanders, 83% had witnessed some form of sexual harassment and 78% said that sexual harassment occurred within their peer community. However, encouragingly, 81% of the respondents felt that, with the support of their peer group, they had the power to address it and contribute to change. Young people must be able to navigate their sexual development, and feel safe in their study, their work, their home environments, as well as in the greater community.

In noticing and rejecting all unwanted and unacceptable acts, young people can effect cultural and societal change collectively. A social mandate of zero tolerance and an embracing of the capacity of each of us to be the difference can shatter the destructive silence and demand a new and shared normal of respect for all.

Funding was awarded in 2022 by the Irish Research Council to create a bespoke bystander programme for secondary school senior cycle students. Our pilot content was modelled on the UCC programme but amended to ensure that the language and content was age-appropriate and that the fictional scenarios reflected the lived reality of the second level audience. The programme was launched in March 2022, with 170 teachers from 50 schools nationally undertaking online training in groups of ten to 12 teachers, at three-hours per training session. The appetite for the training and the hugely positive experience reported by the participating schools demonstrates the potential for an all-of-society reach for bystander intervention training. The second level pilot programme has also shone a light on the very challenging and prevalent experiences of young people in Irish society and the urgent need for consistent and evidence-based education, as mentioned by Dr. MacNeela, to support their better understanding and capacity for proactive responses.

The overarching aim of the pilot programme is to educate and empower participating students, to identify and demand a new normal of respect, fuelled by a recognition of their own capacity to be agents for change, thereby ensuring a safer and more respectful society for them and their peers. The six themed 40-minute workshops considered what a bystander is, consent and healthy relationships, social norms and sexual harassment, online harassment and image-based abuse, being an active bystander and then, shared student reflection. Upon completion of the programme, more students agreed that sexual harassment is a problem in their age group. The data gathered illustrate an increased capacity, following training, to identify acts of sexual harassment and an enhanced willingness to speak up to support others. Second level students, as a result of the training, felt more capable and willing to participate as allies and proactive bystanders for each other, illustrating the positive impact of this programme in empowering young people, who witness this behaviour within their peer group, to respond in a safe way.

On the teachers' experience, secondary school staff were acutely aware of the issues and harms young people are experiencing and were enthusiastic about delivering the programme. They found the course content and materials to be age appropriate and interactive for students, enabling rich discussion and peer learning through group work. School staff found the training and support materials provided to them as facilitators to be very valuable.

I will now mention three small snippets of feedback taken from the data. Cian Giblin from Scoil Chaitríona, Glasnevin, expressed that what he loved about the programme was how incredibly practical it is, that all the detail is there for teachers ready to use, that it is user friendly, and that it gave him confidence in delivering it. He said that his students really enjoyed having a space to debate respectfully with each other the issues that arise from the programme. He noted that all of the parents signed the consent forms showing the hunger and appetite for this education. Deirdre Wolfe from Hamilton High School, Bandon, noted that when there was a rugby match and half of the class had to miss the programme, they were visibly disappointed at not being able to continue the learning. Neil Lucey of Christian Brothers College, Cork, regarded the programme as both very interesting and challenging, with great interaction and extremely positive feedback from students.

To conclude on the future of the bystander intervention secondary school programme, the evidence-based transformational learning and impact of the programme reflects the committed and skilled facilitation of the programme by teachers across the country who seek to support the positive learning and teaching of sexual harassment and violence prevention and responses for young people. As educators, we at UCC are incredibly encouraged by the positive learning and teaching experience of the participating schools which demonstrates the great demand that exists - as does the existing waiting lists from schools - to deliver the training. We maintain this waiting list with the hope for support in funding to allow us to spread this very important training nationwide. I thank the committee.