Responding to sexual harassment within Further Education: Where do we start?

If your college wants to improve its response to sexual harassment where should you start and what are the pitfalls to avoid? This important but complex terrain requires careful navigation. It can feel risky to talk about these issues with staff and students. It can be hard to know where to start if this is an issue you haven't had the opportunity to give a lot of thought to in the past. The good news is that there are people who have been charting this terrain for years. 

The Consent Collective brings a unique expert lens to this area. This is the land we know. We've worked with justice, health and education systems throughout the UK and beyond. Our work has taken us everywhere from parliaments to music festivals and we'd be happy to share the lessons and insights we've picked up along the way so that you can develop a response to sexual harassment that feels both safe and sophisticated. 

During the seminar we'll help you 

• Identify the current challenges and priorities at your college
• Understand the ideal starting places for this work including the role of senior management, how to find your choir, and how to support and up-skill your staff including academic staff and support staff.
• Understand the role of skills-building and embedding this work within the core function of your college including different ways to talk about consent in the classroom.
• Learn from the mistakes of the past - be aware of some of the mistakes made in this work at other institutions so that you can avoid those pitfalls at your college

The seminar will be hosted by Dr Nina Burrowes and Cynthia Ellis from The Consent Collective (click here for bios). As well as hearing from both of them there will also be plenty of opportunity for you to ask questions and share any lessons that you've already picked up from your journey in this terrain so far.

Comfort is important - we will have a 20 minute comfort break at 11.30.

At the end of the seminar there will be an optional 30 minute session where we will take you on a guided tour of our resources including Consent Collective TV. This part of the seminar will run from 13.00 to 13.30 so please put some extra time in your diary if you think you would like to attend this.