The chief executive of the Safety Centre in Milton Keynes, Maya Joseph-Hussain, has called for mandatory education on knife crime prevention in schools. And she’s an advocate who fervently believes that every young child should have the opportunity to this invaluable foundation. This is particularly important in addressing the increasing worries around youth knife crime. Joseph-Hussain’s comments underscore some disturbing statistics. Even without accounting for these difficulties, the Office for National Statistics has reported a 4% increase in knife-enabled offences in England and Wales for the year ending September 2024.
Since its establishment in 2022, the Safety Centre has reached more than 20,000 children and young people with its vital educational sessions. The centre’s new school-focused initiative aims directly at schoolchildren 10 to 11. It underpins the relevance of RSHE to their relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). A recent session attended by a group of 20 students included observation by a teacher and two teaching assistants, highlighting the collaborative effort to enhance safety awareness in schools.
Joseph-Hussain also spoke about the shocking outcome that many knife crime cases with young people have resulted in. She added, “There should be no reason with every young child not getting that education,” highlighting the need for early intervention. Her comments are an indication of the increasing awareness that public, comprehensive, agnostic sex education is needed and called for in our schools, right within the curriculum.
The UK government is currently considering making knife crime prevention part of the RSHE curriculum. This review is only the beginning of a larger systematic review to improve the quality of health education. The outcome of this review is not expected for publication until fall 2025. This exciting announcement indeed increases hope that some substantial changes are coming that will more effectively protect children and address these urgent matters.
The National Education Union echoed similar sentiments, stating that current educational frameworks “do not allow for enough time for important matters to be sufficiently discussed and addressed, such as knife crime prevention.” Furthermore, they emphasized that “these issues do not begin and end at the school gates,” highlighting the need for ongoing discussions that extend beyond the classroom.
The Department for Education has committed to reviewing all education materials on knife crime to ensure it is always relevant. They want to ensure it truly invests in the well-being of children.
