40% of local schools requesting relationship education support stated Andrew Tate last month

Honeycomb Group domestic abuse charity, Glow, saw a significant increase in relationship education programme requests during January. The charity, which supports schools across Staffordshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire, had an influx of teachers getting in touch following difficult conversations in their classrooms surrounding Andrew Tate's arrest. 

In January, he was detained in Romania over a rape and human trafficking case. This sparked conversations in classrooms surrounding the sexist comments and misogynistic behaviour he promotes on social media. 

Andrew Tate is believed to target young and impressionable teenage boys, who begin to replicate his sexist views and behaviours. Local teachers are spotting this in their schools and through student's online activity. They are reaching out to Glow who specialise in children and young adult relationships. 

Glow's Education and Prevention Team provide schools with a variety of support packages. The most popular is Relationships Without Fear which focuses on the characteristics of a healthy relationship and the warning signs of an unhealthy relationship. 

Education and Prevention Team Leader Sarah Buckley explains:

“If we don’t teach teenagers about healthy relationships, including sex and consent, then they will learn it from other sources, like Andrew Tate.

We can’t be scared of talking about him. He’s in the public eye and all over social media – his glamorised lifestyle is something that young people are almost aspiring to.

Having healthy debates and conversations in schools is really key. It’s so important to give students the opportunity to discuss things with their peers and staff. 

It’s easy to turn a blind eye and shy away, but we can’t pretend that this isn’t happening. Instead, we must tackle the issue head on. We need to give young people strong role models and call out any behaviour that we notice, as well as empowering young women to do the same.”

If you would like to find out more about Relationships without Fear or domestic abuse charity Glow please visit: findtheglow.org.uk/education/