Nottingham University to ‘pilot’ consent classes through sports teams and societies

Yesterday saw student protests on campus, demanding mandatory consent training


The University of Nottingham has said it is going to begin “piloting consent training” through sports clubs and societies.

Yesterday saw student groups protesting on campus, calling for the university to make consent classes mandatory for all students.

This term, the university is “piloting a new style of consent training” via student mobile phones, which it says includes training on misogyny and hate crime and has been written by leading academics.

But over the next year, Nottingham is also going to be “piloting face-to-face” peer-led consent training, through sports clubs and societies.

The uni said this is because “peer-to-peer learning can be the most impactful way of influencing values and behaviours”, but said it is “open to conversations” about how this can be achieved in better ways. It is also working with the Students’ Union to give students active bystander training, which raises awareness of issues and finds ways for students to find ways to safely challenge inappropriate behaviour.

Nottingham Trent University already has mandated consent training for all students, with first-year undergraduate students having to undertake an online course on consent in either their first or second term. In September 2021, 6,000 students took part in the uni’s “consent is everything” workshop.

In a statement to The Tab Nottingham, Katherine Linehan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and People, said: “Everyone in our community should feel safe at all times from any form of harassment or misconduct.

“We educate our staff and students on the standards of behaviour we expect and promote safety and awareness initiatives such as Stronger Together and Shoulder to Shoulder (gendered sexual and domestic violence) to protect our community against sexual misconduct. This term we are piloting a new style of consent training as part of Stronger Together and including training on misogyny and hate crime written by leading academics.

“The pilot, delivered to student mobile phones, is aimed at making these resources as accessible as possible to drive engagement.

“Over the next year we are also piloting face-to-face consent training through sports clubs and societies as we know that peer-to-peer learning can be the most impactful way of influencing values and behaviours but we are always open to conversations about how this can be better achieved. We also work closely with our Students’ Union to deliver active bystander training to students to raise awareness of these issues and find ways for them to safely challenge inappropriate behaviour and support one another to be safe.”

Featured image via @sexpression.nottingham on Instagram.

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