Our preventative gender-based violence (GBV) educational project, ‘Steps’, will be continuing up to 2027 thanks to support from the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF).
Steps aligns with YEF’s aim to build high-quality UK evidence on whether universal school programmes can shift attitudes linked to harmful behaviour, providing schools with insights to strengthen their relationships education. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to national efforts to address GBV and violence against women and girls (VAWG) through preventative, universal education within secondary schools.
Delivered to boys in Years 7 to 9 (aged 11–14) in mainstream schools, Steps aims to reduce gender-based violence by giving boys a safe space to explore and challenge harmful gender norms, misogyny and online influences. The six weekly sessions are delivered to all boys in participating year groups by our Steps team.
Cordis Bright will independently evaluate Steps across 18 schools using an efficacy randomised control trial to assess whether the programme leads to measurable changes in boys’ perceptions about gender norms.
The Steps Curriculum
Combining relational learning approaches, masculinities research, and feminist research, the Steps curriculum aims to educate and empower boys to be part of efforts to reduce incidents of VAWG. The curriculum has been refined through 18 months of delivery to 759 boys across Greater Manchester, and through consultation with educators.
In our 2024/25 evaluation:
- 89% of boys said it was important for other schools to receive these types of sessions.
- 72% of boys felt they had gotten better at being respectful to women and girls
- 78% of boys felt they had gotten better at being a good friend.
Within the curriculum, boys are informed of key vocabulary, such as misogyny and gender stereotypes, and are supported to understand the importance of questioning and challenging harmful beliefs and expectations based on gender. Additionally, boys are informed of the algorithmic and exploitative motivations behind why misogynistic content is so prevalent online, and the impact this content can have on men and boys.
Schools can express their interest in participating by contacting
