Relationship Education

Porter, Janette ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0643-3272 and Standing, Kay ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5514-6953 (2018) Relationship Education. [Data Collection]

Abstract

The Healthy Relationships research project ran from 2012-2020 from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) Sociology department. Initially funded by Tender Acting Against Abuse it took a gendered perspective to relationships and relationship abuse. The project was later funded by Children in Need UK and internally from LJMU. The research project team consisted of Project PI Professor Kay Standing in Gender Studies who is intersectional feminist with research interests in gender, education, gender-based violence, and menstruation in the UK and Nepal and Janette Porter project Facilitator and lecturer in Education. Janette’s research focusses on healthy relationships in teenagers intimate partner relationships, she is also an artist and activist.

The project ran across Greater Merseyside UK schools, during the eight years of the project, a total of 912 pupils participated in relationship education workshops in mainstream and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) schools. Either over a period of 10 hours each, either on two days or delivered weekly over a period of 10 weeks. A total number of 3,293 pupils watched an assembly on relationship education delivered by the participating pupils. Additionally, relationship education training was delivered to 559 school staff across the schools to offer a whole school approach to the project and to support pupils’ learning

The government definition of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) changed in 2012 to include young people aged 16 and 17, extending the definition increased awareness that young people in this age group experience DVA. Relationship education became compulsory in schools in England and Wales in September 2020. Young people aged 12 to 19 with a disability experience violence at nearly twice the rate as those without (Rand and Harrell 2009).

The publications produced to share the project data often reflects on how the researcher listened to, and respected the voice of the pupil, to ensure their participation became integral to the research, in turn leading to a co-designed resource on relationship education. They reflect on the experiences and how creative research methods can be used in a variety of situations and adapted to diverse participants, in particular pupils with SEND requirements. There is increasing recognition of the need for whole school approaches to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) from happening in the first place, and for equipping schools to feel more confident supporting pupils affected by GBV.

Additional Information:	Depositing user's licence comment:
Creators:	Porter, Janette ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0643-3272 and Standing, Kay ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5514-6953
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Domestic Abuse gender based Violence Domestic Violence Healthy Relationships; 39 Education; 390107 Humanities and social sciences curriculum and pedagogy (excl. economics, business and management)
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.24377/LJMU.d.00000257
Division:	Education
Field of Research:	Education Education > Curriculum and pedagogy > Humanities and social sciences curriculum and pedagogy (excl. economics, business and management)
Date Deposited:	21 Jan 2026 15:48
Last Modified:	21 Jan 2026 15:48
Related resources:	Related data Published paper Published paper Related data Published paper Published paper
URI:	https://opendata.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/257
Data collection method:	Workshops
Geographic coverage:	Greater Merseyside UK
Resource language:	English
Metadata language:	English
Collection period:	From To 2012 2026