Sexual harassment is a major problem warns lead schools police officer in Wales

As reported by BBC News, deputy chief constable Claire Parmenter has warned sexual harassment among pupils has “become the norm” and told headteachers to report cases

The statement comes after reports found almost half of secondary school pupils in Wales said they had experienced sexual harassment from fellow students and children as young as 11 were being pressured for nudes.

Ms Parmenter has told schools not to be reluctant to report cases of sexual harassment and that they will not be judged for failing to cope or “breeding the wrong culture”.

“It [sexual harassment] is prevalent – part of our challenge is to encourage schools to be comfortable in reporting,” Parmenter said.

She added there was a “fine balance” between encouraging teachers to report cases and “unnecessarily criminalising” school children.

Campaigns such as Everyone’s Invited also found incidences of sexual harassment among young people to be increasing.

“The prevalence is there but we do have a situation where young people don’t want to tell their teachers in respect of it – they certainly don’t want to identify that to parents”, said Amanda Blakeman, deputy chief constable and lead officer for children in Wales.

One of the issues of greatest concern is upskirting. Commissioner Maxine Thomas, from Pembrokeshire College, also pointed to cases of stalking, inappropriate touching and online bullying.

“The colleges are experiencing things which we have never experienced before and we are seeing phenomenal increases in terms of reporting,” said Thomas.

Professor Sally Holland, children’s commissioner, informed members of the Senedd that peer-on-peer sexual harassment was “likely” to continue to rise and more open reporting is needed.

Prof Holland referred to uniform as a “battleground about girls’ bodies and discussions about them” and has welcomed schools to develop more “sensible policies” about uniforms.