This is a slightly longer post, discussing the approach universities might want to consider when implementing consent education. Although the focus of the post is on the approach, rather than the content, here are specific example of messaging included below.There is currently – rightly so – a lot of conversation about consent awareness within education settings. This is coming to the fore again within Higher Education, in particular, due to the incoming Office for Students condition of registration regarding sexual misconduct approaches. This will (almost certainly) include an expectation for universities to be providing consent education to students (and hopefully also to staff).
The challenges around consent education to this point have centred around the right approach to the – most often – single delivery of a programme or course. I.e., should this be mandatory? How might students who are affected by the content opt out of the session if it’s not optional? If it is optional, how do we get the messages to the people who need it most, who most likely won’t attend? And then, of course, there have been conversations around the correct mode of delivery – is an e-learning session sufficient? How could we possibly get all our students in one room to hear these messages in a ‘live’ in-person setting?
But the reality is that no one delivery (mandatory or optional, e-learning or ‘live’) is sufficient. Consent doesn’t have to be a massively complex topic, but it is something that is present in a large proportion of interactions we have with other people – whether they are romantic or professional, face-to-face or online, whether we have known the other person 5 years or 5 seconds. And for that reason, consent education should probably feature across the university footprint, most definitely to be ‘dosed’ out on more than one occasion. In this way, there is less pressure on universities to choose the one best course, and more of an expectation that actually ‘this is just something we are going to talk about’, in different ways, through lots of different mediums.
Whilst the focus of this post is more about the application of consent education, rather than the specific content, the tone of the messaging must be carefully considered. A recent Guardian article importantly noted that ‘In one breath we are facing a national crisis, and in the next our solution is to call out “disrespect” and challenge harmful gender norms.’. It can, however, be helpful to strike somewhat of a balance so as not to alienate, but to still make clear that this isn’t a negotiable or optional act. As different messaging and tones can be utilised at different stages of these communications, arguably this provides another benefit to the ‘dosage approach’.
Provided below is just an example of a few areas where these conversations could be taking place, and perhaps what those conversations could entail.
Target audience: All students – all years (UG and PG)
Opportunity and regularity: 16 Days of Activism (25th November – 10th December, every year) and Sexual Violence and Sexual Abuse Awareness Week (February, every year)
Example mediums of messaging: Campaigns – posters, leaflet, TV screens, events, wristbands, videos, talks, stalls
Example messaging: Consent messaging specific to sexual violence, clear examples of what is unacceptable (and could be illegal) – e.g., “too drunk to consent is not consent”, “asleep is not consent”, “forced consent is not consent”.
Target audience: All students – new starters
Opportunity and regularity: Induction (e.g., an in-person matriculation + online modules)
Example mediums of messaging: Talks, videos, e-learning session(s)
Example messaging: Consent messaging to be explicit – and can be related to sexual violence, amongst other behaviours and interactions – but considered within general dignity and respect messaging reflecting the values of the institution – e.g., “we will not accept anyone who makes this university unsafe for another student or member of staff – we encourage all students and staff to challenge any actions which harass, harm, humiliate, or threaten others”, “support is available for any student who is subjected to unacceptable behaviours”.
Target audience: All students – returning
Opportunity and regularity: Registration (e.g., online modules), every year
Example mediums of messaging: Videos, e-learning session(s)
Example messaging: This messaging should be consistent with earlier years to build recognition and show consistency in the university’s approach – e.g., “our expectations of you are still that you show respect to others” and that “the consequences of not behaving within these expectations are significant”.
Target audience: Sports teams and societies - committees
Opportunity and regularity: Committee training, every year
Example mediums of messaging: Committee handbook, talks, videos
Example messaging: This messaging should include expectations of students in their role as student leaders (i.e., recognising being in a position of power and the implications of this on consent, and with regards to looking after others), and make reference to specifics with codes of conduct. The content can be explicitly sexual violence related, but also positioned within the context of engaging in their sport/society (e.g., consent within martial arts means allowing someone to withdraw consent, even if they entered into a sparring match, consent within the drama society means being additionally sensitive around intimacy scenes etc.).
Target audience: Sports teams and societies - members
Opportunity and regularity: Membership information (e.g., webpages), talks, videos
Example mediums of messaging: Committee handbook, talks, videos
Example messaging: As above: The content can be explicitly sexual violence related, but also positioned within the context of engaging in their sport/society (e.g., consent within martial arts means allowing someone to withdraw consent, even if they entered into a sparring match, consent within the drama society means being additionally sensitive around intimacy scenes etc.). The focus here can be about empowering students to form and communicate their own boundaries, as well as setting a clear expectation that these boundaries are to be respected at all times. This may also be important for messaging around initiations/hazing.
Target audience: Academic courses
Opportunity and regularity: Course inductions, every year
Example mediums of messaging: Handbook, student support/conduct pages on VLEs
Example messaging: Some academic courses will naturally discuss consent within the context of sexual relationships more readily than others (and these opportunities should be taken when they arise) – however, there can be space made to discuss generally respecting fellow course mates across all courses. Signposting to central student support campaigns and information should also be considered across all courses.
Target audience: In Accommodation
Opportunity and regularity: Accommodation induction + throughout the year
Example mediums of messaging: Talks, videos, online information, within accommodation spaces (kitchens, toilets, receptions, common rooms)
Example messaging: This messaging should explicitly discuss the importance of healthy relationships – not necessarily just intimate relationships, but relationships with those you live with – e.g., “our expectation is that you respect the boundaries of others, you feel able to say when you don’t want to be involved in any activity within your halls, and you call out unacceptable behaviour of others where it is safe to do so” (the latter also brings in active bystander approaches which sit hand-in-hand with consent education). This may also be important for messaging around initiations/hazing. These can also mirror some of the specific sexual violence campaigns, communications and materials highlighted above. Even if messages aren’t explicitly sexual violence-related, signposting to central university sources of support and information is helpful.
A final, but hugely important point to note about where consent should feature across your university landscape: consent must feature within your misconduct policy and procedures. Not just as a passing reference within the definitions of sexual misconduct behaviours (although it should feature here too). Consent needs its own definition and staff administrating university disciplinary processes need to have confidence in how they are determining – on the balance of probability – whether consent was present or not. Because ultimately, that is what the majority of disciplinary cases will come down to. So, if universities don’t have a clear definition and method to consider its presence within a case, and this is not well communicated with everyone involved, it will only make already challenging cases even more complex. If a discipline/misconduct definition is established, this wording should be woven in throughout all of the above opportunities so that there is consistency and students and staff are aware of the expectations placed on them.
If all of the above is considered, there may be up to 6 opportunities per year for a student to receive some form of consent education, and this is (most likely) without even having to create anything entirely from scratch. The above opportunities offer a framework to include consent education and build further from there.
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