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EVALUATION OF THE ZERO TOLERANCE "RESPECT" PILOT PROJECT

SECTION THREE: PREPARATION FOR THE PROJECT

3.1 The main focus of the evaluation was on participants' experiences of the project, as a means of identifying the effectiveness of the materials and developments for the future. This included exploring their views of various stages of the project, and the first range of issues examined related to the preparatory stages and the early development of the project.

IDENTIFYING PARTICIPANTS

3.2 The first stage in the project involved identifying the participants and the Education Services in Edinburgh and Glasgow suggested to Zero Tolerance the schools and youth groups which ultimately became involved in the "Respect" project. The organisations discussed and agreed their participation and a Steering Group was brought together by the Scottish Executive to oversee the project, on the basis of members' appropriate expertise. This group met at various stages in the project, although it had a limited role in implementation (and some members would have preferred a higher level of involvement).

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE OF RELEVANT WORK

3.3 Prior to the project, staff and Steering Group members identified the relevance of the "Respect" work to the organisations involved, and highlighted previous work which had been undertaken.

3.4 Education representatives and teachers noted the relevance of the work to initiatives in education, particularly those involving the personal and social development of pupils (such as sexual health work, "I can do anything days", personal development work in youth groups and the "Feeling Yes, Feeling No" package for primary schools, focusing on sexual abuse). The community education representative also pointed to links to work to address bullying, healthy lifestyles and avoiding crime. At a broader level, the work was also seen to be consistent with the citizenship agenda, consultation, empowerment of and listening to young people, "the inclusive school", new health guidelines and "the health promoting school", as well as to issues such as sustainable development. Around two thirds of the teachers felt that the "Respect" work related to broader priorities in education (although two felt that this was "way down the list of priorities").

3.5 Although it was found that, as anticipated, there had been little involvement in specific preventive work to address violence against women (with the exception of 6VT, which had used some of the initial materials previously, and St Paul's, which had been involved with an "Action Against Abuse" pack produced in Glasgow), most of the participants identified that they had been involved in some relevant work in the past. This included 87% of secondary school teachers and more than two thirds of youth workers, mostly in the types of area discussed above.

3.6 Similarly, although few young people had been directly involved in this type of preventive programme, most (89%) had been involved in previous discussions about relationships (predominantly in schools or with friends). In Broughton and the youth groups, most had been involved in discussions about relationships and violence, and half about equality. Around two thirds of the primary pupils had also been involved in previous discussions about issues such as the ways people might treat each other. In addition, some of the youth groups had extensive policies and most had a set of rules (even where they had no written policies), and in 6VT and PYCP there had been previous work carried out on, for example, anti-racism, sexual health and self-esteem.

3.7 Young people also reported being aware at the start of having seen publicity relating to issues which were relevant to the "Respect" project. Half of the older participants interviewed, for example, had seen previous publicity on the subject of equality between women and men and almost all had seen material relating to violence. A large proportion of the primary school pupils interviewed (83%) had also seen publicity about relationships. Although many examples of different types of publicity were given, the material reported most frequently was the TV advertising relating to domestic abuse (the most recent Scottish Executive "Behind Closed Doors" advert and previous advertisements). Almost all of the young people thought that what they had seen was effective. There was, therefore, some general prior knowledge, but little specific focus on this issue.

TRAINING

3.8 Many of the staff had undertaken training in the past which they considered relevant to the "Respect" project (all of the primary staff, three quarters of the youth workers and almost two thirds of the secondary staff). Few, however, had addressed the specific issues covered in the project, and although a small number had received training relating to the "Action Against Abuse" pack, most described having participated in training relating to issues such as child protection, bullying, sexual health, interpersonal skills, drugs awareness, anti-racism and other aspects of the personal and social development of young people.

3.9 The Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust developed training materials specifically to prepare staff delivering the project, and each staff group was given a one day training session, in order to:

• Ensure that they understood the background to, and philosophy of, the work.
• Ensure that they were familiar with the material, were given the chance to go through it and could consider how they might adapt it, as well as tackling any fears and concerns that they may have.

Overall perceptions of training

3.10 The general views of the training which was provided were positive, although it became clear that many of the staff believed that they already had a clear understanding of the issues involved, and relatively high proportions did not believe that the training had improved their understanding of the concepts of respect, discrimination, gender issues and power. Staff views of the outcomes of the training were as follows:

Table 3.1 Staff Views of training

3.11 The main areas in which the training was seen to impact on the staff were in terms of clarifying the objectives of the project and highlighting areas of difficulty. Overall, however, almost all of the staff (97%) thought that the training was "good" (43%) or "OK" (54%), and only one member of staff said that they felt it was "poor".

3.12 Positive aspects of the training were identified as:

• The opportunity to discuss the project as a group, or to meet other agencies involved.
• The provision of information relating to how to deal with disclosures and how to give information to young people who may need support.
• The quality of the information.
• The chance to clarify views.

Areas of concern

3.13 Potential areas of concern following the training, however, related to the relatively high number of staff who felt that the training had not fully explained the materials, the number who felt that it had not explained the anticipated outcomes and the number who felt that they had not had the opportunity to highlight concerns or identify ways of overcoming difficulties.

3.14 There were also some concerns identified from the views expressed by staff at the start of the work, with a number of areas of inconsistency which suggested that not all of the staff were clear about the approach of the project.

3.15 Almost a fifth (19%) of secondary teachers at interview, for example, expressed concern at what they perceived as an "anti-male" approach, and the self completion survey also identified inconsistencies in staff views of issues such as discrimination and harassment (where 44% of staff stated that they agreed sometimes with the statement that "there's no harm in a bit of fun, even if it is not politically correct"). There were also some staff who did not agree that "girls and women experience more harassment than boys and men" or that "men are violent to women much more than women are violent to men" or that "it is mostly women and girls who experience abuse and mostly men who abuse them". More than a fifth of the staff (22%) believed that, at least sometimes, "girls and women can provoke violence and abuse because of how they dress or behave", two thirds that (at least sometimes), that alcohol or stress can "make men violent". Around one in six of the staff disagreed (at least sometimes) that "when women say no to sex it always means no". Whether or not these variations had an impact upon the delivery of the project is impossible to measure, but they point clearly to the need to ensure their clarity prior to delivery of the materials.

Improvements to training

3.16 Suggested improvements to the training included:

• Greater opportunity for staff to reflect upon their own views and how their attitudes might impact upon delivery.
• A greater focus on either issues or materials (with no overall consensus).
• Consideration of issues affecting specific groups of children (e.g. from black and minority ethnic groups).
• Assumption of professional expertise, and less focus on practical techniques.
• Availability of materials prior to training.
• Consideration of the length of the training.
• Identification of strategies for dealing with emerging attitudes or issues.
• Improvements to the venue.

OTHER PREPARATION IN THE SETTINGS

3.17 Following the training, there was some variation in the work which was done with other staff, parents and young people in the settings prior to the project's implementation. (There was no requirement for this). Some youth groups and schools, for example, sent letters or informed parents. Preparation with young people (where this took place) was generally limited to responding to queries about the posters and launch.

3.18 The lack of in-depth preparation was reflected in the findings that young people had only a general awareness at the start of the project of the type of work which was to take place. Older participants were aware, for example, that the project was generally about "boys and girls" and "respect" (and around half mentioned that it related to "domestic abuse") but they did not have more detailed information. In the primary schools, the focus was on the schools' involvement in a new project and a general perception (reflected in responses from children at interview and in the self-completion questionnaires), that the work was about:

"relationships, getting on with each other … learning to treat others the way you would like to be treated."

3.19 There was a general view that the young people would learn more about the content as the project progressed, and the staff did not generally believe that there was a need for additional preparation (with the exception of Broughton, where it was suggested that there should have been more work with staff who were not delivering the project). Around half of the young people interviewed, however, believed that more preparation could have been done with them prior to the start of the work, particularly in terms of giving them more information.

EXPECTATIONS AND THE NEED FOR THE PROJECT

3.20 Despite limited information, there was a high level of enthusiasm for the project at the start, with around 90% of young people (in all settings) looking forward to it. The only concerns identified were about the issues which might emerge (particularly the prospect of talking about personal issues), or the attitudes of other young people. A total of 95% of older participants and 90% of younger participants responding to the self-completion questionnaire, however, stated that the project was a good idea, and all members of the Steering Group, all staff and almost all of the young people believed that there was a need for this work.

Young people's views

3.21 This was borne out in some of the views which were identified at the start in the self-completion questionnaires from children and young people. It was found, for example, that although primary school pupils had a relatively high level of understanding of some issues (such as listening to other people, not hitting people and helping people with problems), there was less consensus in relation to how to respond to others' behaviour. Almost a third believed that it was OK to "treat other people badly if they treat you badly first" and there was also evidence of gender stereotyping in relation to some issues, as well as clear issues in relation to the types of behaviour perceived to be "fun". More than 1 in 7 boys, for example, thought that it was fun to "make fun of people", almost three quarters of boys thought that it was fun to "whistle at girls" and almost two thirds believed that it was fun to "scare people".

3.22 Amongst older participants, there were also areas of concern, with just over half who believed that "you should listen to other people even if you're not interested in what they're saying". A fifth agreed, or sometimes agreed, that "when you are annoyed, you have to take it out on other people" and more than half agreed, or sometimes agreed, that "if people treat you really badly, you should treat them badly back". There were also gender stereotyping issues, and 20% of respondents agreed, or sometimes agreed, that people should be treated differently because of their sex, with almost two thirds (61%) who agreed, or sometimes agreed, that "women and men are good at different things and they should stick to them". More than a third (39%) considered that "it is important for young men to be strong and not to show any weakness". There was a marked difference between young women and young men on all of these questions, with young men demonstrating a very high level of gender stereotyping.

3.23 In relation to harassment, around a fifth (21%) agreed, or sometimes agreed, that "calling people names if they're different from you is just for a laugh". There was also evidence of inappropriate views of violence against women, with more than half (57%) who did not agree, or did not always agree, that girls and young women experienced more harassment than boys and young men (and 22% totally disagreed). A quarter of young people agreed to some extent that "rape, domestic violence and other kinds of abuse are very rare" and three quarters (74%) that "girls can provoke violence and abuse because of how they dress or behave". Around a third (37%) did not always agree that "men are violent to women much more than women are violent to men" and over half did not always agree that "there is never an excuse for men to be violent to women". 42% believed that there were circumstances in which "you can understand why men are violent to women when you know what happened to them" and more than a third (39%) did not believe that "it is mostly women and girls who experience abuse and mostly men who abuse them". Only 56% agreed that "when young women say no to sex, it always means no". Again, there were gender differences in perception of these issues.

Issues affecting young people

3.24 As well as the existence of these attitudes which were identified, the issues facing young people also lent support to the need for the project. There was a general view that it is currently "really difficult to be a young person", and participants identified issues for primary pupils relating to "self-esteem", "dealing with differences and reconciling differences", "friendships … and the trust of friends" and becoming "sexually aware". Many of these issues were reiterated for older participants, along with concerns about their image and appearance, the formation of values and attitudes, and specific issues for girls and young women, such as rights, non-consensual sex, personal safety and the lack of respect from boys. Pressure on young people to have sex was the issue identified most often as facing young people by older participants, but there were issues for all young people in relation to the development of self-esteem, confidence and making the right choices. It was also acknowledged that some young people experienced abuse and other forms of violence, and a number mentioned bullying, drugs and alcohol, fighting and gangs.

3.25 The schools and youth groups were seen to be appropriate settings for the delivery of the project, and all of the staff believed that they should have a role in this type of work. All of the young people interviewed (and 88% of questionnaire respondents) also believed that schools and groups should have a role in this, and both staff and young people pointed to the major role of school education in young people's lives. It was also suggested that the atmosphere and flexibility of youth groups was conducive to this type of work.

3.26 All of these perceptions, therefore, established the context in which the work would take place, the preparation undertaken and the clear need for the type of work which formed the basis of the "Respect" project.

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