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Contents

1. Introduction
1.1 Prevention of relationship violence in the context of worldwide European and national strategies to combat violence against women and girls
1.2 Violence in teenage relationships - a topic for schools and youth work
1.3 The aim of the manual for the prevention of violence in intimate teenage relationships
2. Violence in teenage relationships - a topic for research?
2.1 Opinions and attitudes of young people regarding violence in intimate relationships
2.2 Prevalence, forms and consequences of violence in intimate teenage relationships
3. Recommendations for the implementation of workshops for school classes and youth groups on the prevention of relationship violence
3.1 Aim of the workshops, contents and methodology
3.2 Personnel and structural framework conditions
4. Practical training and educational materials
4.1 Workshop modules, educational objectives, exercises - overview
4.2 Module 1: Healthy and respectful intimate relationships
4.3 Module 2: Abusive relationships - violence in intimate relationships
4.4 Module 3: Support and help
5. Literature and list of materials

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Introduction

In the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), emphasis is made on the close connection between the discrimination of women, gender-specific violence and violations of human rights. States are called upon to take action against all forms of violence against women - this also includes violence in intimate relationships.

The Council of Europe, in its final report in the campaign on combating violence against women and domestic violence, emphasises the necessity to take action in the area of upbringing and education as well as in the training of professionals. It highlights the need to increase the general awareness about gender-based violence and to oppose the attitudes, gender roles and stereotypes, which tolerate or legitimate violence against women.

In national action plans, the need for preventative measures for combating violence against women and girls is also highlighted. It is encouraged to integrate the topic of domestic violence - including violence in teenage relationships - in school activities and in basic and advanced training of educators.

In the Daphne Project "Children and Adolescents Against Domestic Violence" (2007-2009), the PARITÄTISCHE collaborated with its Hungarian, German and Austrian project partners with the goal of including the topic of domestic violence, i.e. violence in parental relationships and the consequences for their children, within schools' curricular work and youth work. In the project's prevention workshops, young project participants expressed the necessity to include as a topic in school prevention work not only violence in intimate relationships of parents and adults, but also violence in intimate teenage relationships.

This suggestion by young people was addressed in the follow-up project "Heartbeat". An anonymous questionnaire, in which 573 young people were questioned before participating in a "Heartbeat" prevention workshop against violence in intimate teenage relationships, confirmed the interest of young people in the corresponding in-school preventative measures: 88% stated that they find it helpful and good to discuss the topic of violence in teenage intimate relationships at school.

According to current studies from Great Britain (2009) and Belgium (2009), young people rarely disclose their experience of violent relationships to teachers or youth workers. However, this violence frequently has a visible impact on schools, irrespective of the issues being openly discussed. Concentration difficulties, reduction in performance, truancy and increased aggressiveness, drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness and injury - can all arise as consequences of abusive and violent experiences. Schools and youth services are important settings for children and young people to learn about well-being and conflict resolution. It is the responsibility of schools and youth services to make themselves aware of child protection measures and to contribute to comprehensively shape the emotional and social learning of children and young people. Young people's social and emotional skills are crucial for the maintenance of healthy and respectful intimate relationships which are free from violence. According to the Heartbeat evaluation 97,3 % of 112 teachers and youth workers, who participated in Heartbeat further trainings, believe the issue should be covered in schools and youth work. Furthermore, 98,2 % agree that this should also be a topic for teacher training. 36,6 % of the respondents have encountered issues of violence in teenage relationships during the course of their work and 69,4 % hoped to increase their skills for dealing with them.

This manual is designed for teachers and other professionals within education and youth work. It aims to equip professionals with resources and information to increase their understanding of the problem of violence in intimate teenager relationships and to show ways of how to implement preventative activities against violence in intimate teenage relationships in schools or youth services. The materials in this manual are especially suitable for delivering workshops with young people aged 14-19 years old.

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