On 26 September 2026, the Department for Education said schools will receive a new framework to tackle misogyny, backed by practical guides, teacher training and support for parents. The announcement was issued by the department alongside Education Secretary Lucy Powell and presented as a school-wide response rather than a narrow curriculum add-on. (gov.uk) In policy terms, the proposal is meant to run through classroom teaching, enrichment activity, pastoral systems and interactions beyond the school gates. The department’s stated aim is to build healthier relationships, improve belonging and challenge harmful attitudes before they become embedded in everyday school life. (gov.uk)
The pressure for intervention is set out in the department’s own figures. In May, half of girls reported hearing misogynistic comments from other pupils during a single school week, while 30% of Year 10 and Year 11 pupils said they had recently heard comments that made them worry about the safety of girls. (gov.uk) The official language is also more direct than in many earlier safeguarding announcements. The GOV.UK press release says the package is designed to challenge toxic influences, and its headline summary explicitly refers to the influence of figures such as Andrew Tate alongside wider harmful online content. (gov.uk)
The new framework is not being introduced in isolation. The department says it builds on the strengthened Relationships, Sex and Health Education guidance now being taught in schools, with more explicit teaching on healthy relationships, harmful behaviour, deepfakes and related online risks. GOV.UK guidance published on 15 July 2025 said schools could begin following the new approach straight away and that it must be followed from September 2026. (gov.uk) The wider Violence Against Women and Girls action plan sets out the same direction in firmer policy terms. It says the overhauled RSHE curriculum should equip children to understand consent and healthy relationships, recognise the harms of misogynistic online content and address incel-related material, while avoiding the blanket stigmatisation of boys. (gov.uk)
Implementation is being spread across curriculum support and targeted pilots. The government said £150,000 will go to a new RSHE expert advisory group, bringing together specialist organisations and practitioners to produce resources for teachers handling sensitive and complex material with greater confidence. (gov.uk) Alongside that, two new pilots have started under the government’s £16 million Violence Against Women and Girls Prevention Programme. One will work with secondary pupils on attitudes to healthy relationships, while the other will work with boys on harmful attitudes and negative online influences, with the results intended to inform a wider rollout. (gov.uk) The longer-term benchmark is clearer in the government’s action plan. By the end of this Parliament in 2029, every state-funded secondary school in England is meant to have a credible offer on healthy and respectful relationships, whether delivered through school staff, external providers or mentoring. (gov.uk)
The school announcement also sits inside a broader government campaign on misogyny. On the same day, Bridget Phillipson, in her role as Minister for Women and Equalities, announced a partnership with major employers and support for a National Taskforce to Tackle Misogyny, linking school-based prevention with action in workplaces and communities. (gov.uk) The Department for Education also said it is working with the Youth Endowment Fund on programmes for 12 to 16 year olds designed to promote respect, resilience and positive role models. Taken together with the pilots, that points to an approach that mixes curriculum reform with tested interventions rather than relying on classroom messaging alone. (gov.uk)
Media literacy is another prominent part of the package. The department said future curriculum reform will strengthen teaching so that pupils can better assess online content, challenge manipulation and think more critically about what they see, including material shaped by AI and deepfake technology. (gov.uk) For parents, the direction of travel is towards fuller involvement rather than passive awareness. The July 2025 RSHE guidance said parents should be able to view teaching materials on request, and the cross-government action plan committed to an online parent hub on media literacy and online safety. (gov.uk)
For school leaders, the practical effect is likely to be a shift away from treating misogyny as a disciplinary issue on its own and towards treating it as part of safeguarding, behaviour, curriculum design and pupil support. That is an inference from the government’s whole-school language, the revised RSHE guidance and the planned pilots, but it is the clearest reading of how ministers appear to want the policy to operate. (gov.uk) In operational terms, schools are likely to need stronger staff confidence on sensitive topics, clearer reporting routes for pupils, better parent communication and closer alignment between RSHE content, pastoral systems and online safety work before the September 2026 statutory deadline fully takes effect. The announcement sets a clear implementation direction, even though the detailed framework and training materials will matter just as much as the headline policy. (gov.uk)