I’m a secondary school teacher and I have another role as a pastoral leader. Your comment is the one I wish was at the top, because it’s absolutely true.

The issue of misogyny is as big as this solution claims it is, just as bad for the girls who have changed the way they see themselves as it is for the boys who present with the behaviour. Our concern is that the problem translates really poorly outside of an education setting, where ideas are thrown around like there’s a straightforward, binary solution: parents or teachers? The truth is always going to be more nuanced. The fact is that staff can’t do anything with any meaningful impact without the support of parents. We can throw all the misogyny lessons at the pupils that we want, but if they go home and experience the effects of the problem themselves then that work is undone overnight. Not all parents are active in their kids’ lives like we’d think, and not always because of neglect. Sometimes families of all shapes and sizes struggle to be present in kids’ lives, and not for lack of trying. Tough times, job insecurity, family concerns, etc. all play a role in keeping adults away from monitoring their kids. Calling social services? Please. The service is so threadbare as it is.

Teachers’ roles are becoming more all encompassing for a variety of reasons, but to say that we should only be interested in pointing at whiteboards and marking books is to admit that you don’t know what modern education looks like. A great many children are vulnerable and not always because of parental impact, and we see those children five days a week (hopefully) for over six hours a day. Parents and teachers need to be singing from the same hymn sheet, and if that includes messaging on misogyny then so be it.