VIEWS
Can overcoming gender stereotypes empower children to build healthy relationships?
Education Today hears from RACHEL KATZ, Program Officer at Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice.
Supporting children to overcome gender stereotypes is an essential step toward gender equality, and crucial in empowering them to build healthy relationships.
At a very young age, children learn what behaviour, characteristics, and roles are expected from them and adults based on their gender. These messages and assumptions risk becoming self-fulfilling as children pick up from those around them what is seen as ‘normal’ or ‘appropriate’ according to their gender.
Gender stereotypes limit children in reaching their full potential and restrict relationships and emotional expression. For instance, girls learn to be agreeable, obedient, and care about their appearance, while boys learn to restrict their emotions and express dominance, and these affect their well-being and relationship building. And, in today’s digital world, the influence of misogyny online adds a further layer of urgency. These stereotypes underpin attitudes which normalise violence, dominance, and control in relationships. For example, gendered language might normalise male violence, or encourage girls to not speak up or excuse harmful behaviour, impacting how they can relate to others. Children who grow up with more gender-equal attitudes tend to have healthier friendships, better emotional well-being, and lower acceptance of violence and discrimination.
Many children can see the limiting effects of stereotypes, yet they are hard to resist when a child wants to fit in with their peers. It is not enough for children to be told they can do anything or that sexist language is wrong – they also need to see those messages reflected in staff attitudes, what they learn and their experience of the school environment. Beyond Gender Stereotypes (BGS) is an innovative, evidence-based programme for Key Stage 2 that supports children to understand and challenge limiting gender stereotypes, supporting them to break free from these limiting norms. It was co-created as part of The Children’s Society’s Lifting Limits programme, and launched in 2024 as part of the Global Boyhood Initiative, from Equimundo, supporting parents, teachers, and boys to foster healthy masculinity and gender equality. In 2024, BGS was rigorously tested in five primary schools with 981 students across England, and the findings were overwhelmingly positive. 91% of children found the lessons interesting and felt they learned something new, and after the online training, teachers held more gender equitable attitudes and 91% felt confident to teach the lessons. Significantly more pupils accepted that anyone can pursue any career, regardless of their gender, with 77% of girls and 61% of boys expressing that any person can become a footballer.
When given the opportunity to reflect critically on gender norms, primary-aged children can develop more equitable attitudes, build stronger cross-gender relationships, and become more open to a wider range of opportunities and ways of expressing themselves.
LGfL-The National Grid for Learning AI chatbots and safeguarding in schools: emerging digital risks
ALEX DAVE, Safeguarding Lead at LGfL, reports on the joint safeguarding work carried out between her and Safeguarding Language Specialist Dr Charlotte-Rose Kennedy.
According to Vodafone, AI chatbots are widely used by young people, with 81% of children aged 11–16 reporting regular use. The challenge is not simply access to AI tools, but the emotional impact of sustained interaction with systems that mimic human connection. A linguistic analysis of over 280,000 words of anonymised forum data explored how individuals describe attempts to reduce or
stop chatbot use. Drawing on Dr Charlotte-Rose Kennedy’s expertise, the analysis focused on emotional language such as “I feel” to identify patterns in motivation, experience, and withdrawal. This reflects a key safeguarding principle, which is that language can indicate emotional and behavioural states. Three themes emerged: why people use AI chatbots, the negative effects of sustained use, and challenges in stopping use. Why people use AI chatbots. AI chatbots are often used to meet unmet emotional and social needs. Individuals describe loneliness, isolation, and lack of meaningful offline connection. Others use chatbots as a coping mechanism during stress or emotional distress. These patterns reflect known safeguarding indicators such as social withdrawal and emotional reliance on digital environments. Negative effects of sustained use. The analysis highlights self- reported harms linked to prolonged use, including reduced wellbeing, shame, loss of control, difficulty concentrating, and reduced motivation.
July/August 2026
Some also describe declining real-world social engagement. These indicators become significant when digital behaviour begins to affect emotional or functional wellbeing. Challenges in stopping use. Users often describe stopping use in relational terms, including feelings similar to loss or separation. This may be accompanied by low mood, loneliness, and repeated return to platforms despite intentions to stop. These patterns suggest chatbot use can move into emotionally reinforced behaviour. For schools, these findings reinforce contextual safeguarding approaches that consider not only what young people are doing online but why. This requires professional judgement alongside understanding of digital behaviour patterns rather than isolated indicators. Filtering and monitoring tools such as
Senso.cloud are used in some settings to support DSLs in interpreting activity alongside human oversight, school context, and safeguarding procedures. As chatbot use becomes more embedded in daily life, safeguarding approaches must evolve to reflect behavioural and emotional signals as well as language patterns. Linguistic analysis can help identify risks that might otherwise go unnoticed. Combined with contextual safeguarding practice, it supports more effective preventative work, earlier recognition and more informed decision-making.
The priority is ensuring schools can respond to emerging digital behaviours in a way that is evidence-based, proportionate, and grounded in safeguarding practice.
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