Impact case study database

Horeck’s project has helped a range of beneficiary groups including secondary-school teachers and educators, journalists, and creative practitioners in dealing with issues that arise from image-based sexual abuse by the development of teaching and education resources that help tackle the issues. The project has led to the development of a set of policies which have been adopted by the Association of School and College Lecturers and which have informed UK government guidance.

Since 2019, Horeck has worked as an advisor for the School of Sexuality Education (henceforth SSE) (formerly Sexplain). An educational charity, SSE works with schools and colleges to provide sessions on sexual education. Horeck’s media expertise on rape culture and digital technologies have informed SSE’s lesson plans with young people, as well as their staff training workshops.

SSE used Horeck’s research in their sessions with teenagers on digital defence and self-care throughout 2019-2020. The co-director of SSE credits Horeck’s research around “rape culture, image-based sexual abuse, Netflix culture and binge watching” as being “instrumental in informing their education programmes on teen digital cultures” [S1]. Lesson plans based on her research on rape culture have been delivered to over 1,000 young people across 15 different schools since 2019 [S1].

Horeck’s research has also informed how SSE deliver workshops and their training of school staff. School staff in particular have expressed a lack of confidence in dealing with cases of online sexual abuse and Horeck has helped to advise them on the language they need to use to discuss such sensitive matters. In November 2019 Horeck’s talk, ‘Reframing “Revenge Porn” as Sexual Violence’ changed perceptions of attendees at the annual SSE conference which was attended by over 60 teachers, sex education facilitators, and students. 100% of respondents of the post event survey said they think differently about issues of revenge porn/image-based abuse, feel better equipped to reframe revenge porn as sexual violence, and will change the way they talk to young people about revenge porn/image based abuse. One teacher observed they feel “ equipped to help young people/people learn that this is never the victim’s fault;” another said that they will “ focus more on responsibility, empathy and wider social issues” when speaking to young people about image-based sexual abuse [S2]. The feedback demonstrates teachers’ increased confidence in finding ways to handle issues of image-based sexual abuse in their schools.

In spring 2020, Horeck enabled SSE to increase their online offering by creating ‘Teachable Moments’ worksheets that address key learning points on sex and consent. The resources supported teachers and parents in helping young people gain vital knowledge about consent and image-based abuse in line with the new compulsory Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum. The official launch of the new RSE curriculum was delayed by COVID-19 and these digital resources therefore served to fill an important gap in sex education for parents and schools. By 31/12/2020, these digital worksheets had been accessed by 232 people. 100% of survey respondents said that the worksheets aided students' learning in RSE [S2]. One parent said the worksheets contained: *“Really useful advice and guidance for anyone who engages with children, including parents and teachers.*” [S2].

In spring/summer 2020, Horeck joined forces with SSE and feminist academic colleagues and fellow sex education advisors, Professor Jessica Ringrose (University College London) and Dr Kaitlynn Mendes (University of Leicester), to co-produce a set of policies for UK secondary schools. These policies were designed to respond to the lack of coherent guidance in secondary schools on how to tackle cases of online sexual harassment, and to help teachers implement a joined up, whole-school approach to the problem. This set of policies, (published online in July 2020), provide comprehensive guidance for schools on dealing with online sexual harassment [S3]. The policies have been officially endorsed by ASCL, who have promoted them to their members, consisting of over 19,000 school and college leaders in the UK, working across primary, secondary and post-16 education. [S4].

In December 2020, the Government published new guidance on ‘sharing nudes and semi-nudes’ for those working with children and young people in education settings both within and beyond schools, which cites these policies and their insight regarding the importance of using the terminology of ‘image-based sexual abuse’ to talk about the non-consensual sharing of intimate images [S5].

In the summer of 2020, Horeck helped SSE to deliver bespoke training sessions on the policies to teachers in three secondary schools in Cardiff, Daventry and North Yorkshire, where assistance was requested on how to deliver digital literacy and the new RSE curriculum. All participants agreed that the training increased their confidence to implement policy and practice to tackle online sexual harassment and they committed to a number of actions suggested in the policy, including sharing learning with key colleagues and reviewing the RSE curriculum, resources, and training [S2].

On 15 October 2020, Horeck and her SSE collaborators held an online training session designed for head teachers and safeguarding leads, to assist with policy implementation, and the event was attended by 25 individuals. Further implementation workshops for teachers were run in November 2020 as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science and were attended by 38 individuals. Following the October and November events, feedback was collated, and of those who responded, everyone agreed that they knew more about the issues covered in the policy and 92% felt more confident handling cases of online sexual harassment involving students [S2]. One Deputy Head (Pastoral) has reported back that since implementing the policy, student wellbeing has improved at his secondary school in Portsmouth, which has seen a dramatic decrease in the sharing of ‘dick pics’ [S6].

Horeck has also delivered training on digital literacy and internet safety to eight teachers and PSHE leaders, 70 film and media students and 20 progress coaches at Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge. The school’s Assistant Vice Principal of Student Welfare said the training benefitted the progress coaches who are now more aware of the correct terminology to use when discussing image-based sexual abuse and have learnt new ways of coaching young people in how to stay safe online [S7].

Public perceptions of so-called ‘revenge porn’ have also been reshaped by Horeck’s work with creative practitioners and journalists. In 2018, the youth creative organization Livity produced a documentary on image-based sexual abuse, Love, Lies and Nudes. This film was inspired by Horeck’s research, with the producer citing Public Rape as an influence [S8]. The film has accrued over 3,884 views on YouTube since its release on 4 June 2018 [S9]. A BBC journalist has also drawn on Horeck’s expertise for a BBC LookEast feature on young people and image-based sexual abuse on 26 June 2018 and a BBC Newsbeat article on 19 June 2019 about young people and staying safe online [S10].