‘The energy of violence’: Transformations in Adolescence

by Dr Catherine Brennan | Jan 16, 2026 | Behaviour management, Blog

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In their 2023 crime survey the National College of Policing report that violence against women and girls (VAWG) accounts for 20% of recorded crime, and that reported VAWG has increased 37% since 2018 (though the actual figure may be much higher)[1].

VAWG is not confined to any social grouping, but for the purposes of this blog I will concentrate on my own area of specialism; I spent many years engaging with, and working on behaviour change, with students in alternative educational provision for children who experience social, emotional and mental health difficulties. The work brought challenges and much joy to those of us involved – personally I have been deeply affected by the humour, optimism and love of life I’ve seen in children with every reason to surrender to the impact of trauma, historic and ongoing which they experience.

The majority of young people educated in non-mainstream settings are boys[2] and, whilst I have worked with girls, it is with the male cohort where my experience has been focused, and it is here, I would argue, that work on improving outcomes around attitudes and behaviour towards women and girls is most urgent. Having spent many years designing, implementing and assessing initiatives around behaviour change, I am convinced of the generative potential of intervening during adolescence to effect meaningful and enduring change among students; this is the case in terms of the ways in which they perceive and interact with others and the world around them, and is arguably more crucial to their futures than their academic attainment.

Professor Sarah Jane Blakemore and others have produced an impressive body of work to evidence the potential in adolescence to change brain chemistry among children, regardless of the adverse childhood experiences they have been subject to. Blakemore’s work shows the way in which appropriate teaching and support during a period when the brain is ‘particularly malleable’ has the potential to help children to make choices which will have positive impact on their future life chances [3]

In my own work with boys aged between 12 and 18 I have seen depressingly high levels of casual misogyny in the attitudes they express. The rise of online influencers such as Andrew Tate has exacerbated the issues and normalized the language and ideas which boys, young men and often girls see as ‘banter’; this can range from relatively low level comments to deeply disrespectful and often threatening utterances – all of which contribute to a toxic atmosphere for women and girls. It was our responsibility as educators to create a zero-tolerance culture where warm and mutually respectful relationships could endure regardless of the challenge to attitudes and behaviour which was essential to supporting boys and young men to understand the importance of respect and consent in healthy relationships and in a safe and healthy world for everyone.

A key element of the strategy used in the school where I worked was to challenge all breaches of our rules around positive behaviour. Challenge needed to be direct, immediate and clear enough for the child to understand what was being challenged and why; challenge could be made in informal ways, relying on the relationships of warmth and trust between staff and students.

Another key component of our work on attitudes around VAWG was to deliver targeted bespoke education work promptly and shaped to the needs of groups and individuals. In creating successful interventions it is essential that systems are in place which identify problem behaviour in individuals, groups and sub-groups. To be effective our work needs to be relevant and current and to be rapidly deployed as soon as the issues are noticed. A management information system needs the capacity to recognize and analyse thematic strands of problem behaviour and attitudes; it needs to help staff tailor innovative interventions which can be delivered by engaging students without jeopardizing the relationships between staff and students upon which effective work with children and young people depends.

VAWG is one area of problem behaviour which those of us working with children need to address urgently with specialist interventions, there are many others. If encouragement were needed for institutions working with children and young people to identify and focus on attitudes and behaviours towards women and girls, the Office of National Statistics summary provides sobering evidence:

Crimes which disproportionately affect women and girls, such as sexual violence, domestic abuse, and stalking have devastating consequences. .. considering some of the less hidden crimes, we estimate 1 in 3 women over the age of 16 in Great Britain were subjected to at least one form of harassment in the last year. This increases to 2 in 3 for women aged 16 to 34.[4] (My emphasis)

The Netflix series Adolescence[5] has brought to the fore in recent weeks the impact of misogyny on the lives of children, families and communities. I don’t particularly want to add my voice to the chorus of comments about this deeply affecting piece; however, I do think it’s important to keep in view the potential to shape young minds in positive ways, and against the barrage of harmful ideas and language which bombard them. In my experience it is possible to offer alternative views and embed respectful ways of being. Those who work with children and young people must build authentic adult/child relationships where mutual respect and trust are established and maintained. This means having integrity as the adult, creating healthy boundaries and being willing to challenge, even at the risk of being unpopular; it means being proactive and success-orientated and creating environments where children and young people can make positive choices. [6]None of this is easy, but the consequences of abandoning the effort at this point are unthinkable for women and girls, for boys and young men, and for the world at large.

[1] Crime Survey 2023, National College of Policing

[2] Ofsted Investigative Report into Alternative Provision, 2018 notes that over 70% of pupils in Pupil Referral Units, unregistered AP and independent special schools are boys from impoverished backgrounds

[3] Blakemore, S-J, Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain, London 2018, p.95

[4] Elkin, M, ‘Violence against women and girls: Helping ot understand the scale and impact of the problem’, Newsletter of the office of National Statistics, November 2021

[5] For a discussion of ‘being the adult’ in professional relationships wtih children, see Bluestein, J, The Win-Win Classroom: A Fresh and Positive Look at Classroom Management, Thousand Oaks, 2008

[6] Adolescence, Thorne J, Graham S, Netflix, 2025

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Co-producing solutions: Reflections on a LearnTrek journey

by Dr Catherine Brennan | Jun 25, 2025 | Blog

My journey towards LearnTrek began in 2017. I was Senior Executive Officer at a small education charity which had at its heart an independent special school for children with social, emotional and mental health needs.

One of my responsibilities was as DSL for the school and I was experiencing some anxiety about whether my systems for reporting and recording were robust enough to manage the volume and level of safeguarding concerns which arose for us multiple times daily. I was using a spreadsheet which was cross-referenced with paper files and I knew that this was neither fully efficient nor fully safe.

The Birth of an Idea

I was chatting about this one day with my friend, who is a web developer. In the way
I’ve discovered web developers tend to, he became interested in my problem and in
finding a solution to it. As we spoke we discovered quickly that we were attempting to
communicate between two very different world views.

I needed to understand and embrace the endless possibilities of a web-based solution. He needed to decipher my passionate advocacy of children who had not thrived in other settings; he needed to convert what must have seemed to him to be heartfelt incoherence into the building blocks of a system which would be effective in day-to-day work with vulnerable and marginalised children.

Neither of us realised at the time the journey this would take us on, nor that it would eventually include so many partners in education, support and care organisations across the UK.

The Journey of Co-Creation

The process we embarked upon that day very soon included my colleagues in SLT at
the school. Our students faced complex barriers to full inclusion and what were basic
requirements for mainstream students represented a triumph for the children we worked
with. What we needed was a way of recording and measuring our students’ progress over
time in a way which was meaningful given their needs and individual starting points.

The collaboration between value-driven professionals in SEND and a programmer at the top of
his game wasn’t always an easy one; there were frustrations and misunderstandings on both
sides; these were overcome only by commitment to the importance of the project and the
strength of relationships between us – humour and empathy were key!

From Safeguarding to Comprehensive Data

The safeguarding area of the portal (now known as LearnTrek) continues to be a powerful
tool in recording, analysing, reporting and actioning safeguarding concerns. Collaboration
with school colleagues also saw the establishment of attendance, behaviour and curriculum
elements; all of which allow settings to record and report on even the tiniest increments of
progress.

In the years since these small beginnings, our developer and his team have worked with
many providers developing the software incrementally. Each partner provider brings new
insight to the work and new puzzles to solve; always driven by the desire to produce great
outcomes alongside children/service users.

A Shared Vision for Inclusion

Recently, I have accepted a role with the organisation my developer friend co-founded to provide the software to other settings. As I settle in I find myself reflecting on the genesis and evolution of the software; I realise that there are parallels between the origin story of the LearnTrek portal and the creative approaches of the providers who use it.

The field of Alternative Provision is packed with practitioners who trust in the power of coming alongside children in authentic and enduring relationships of mutual recognition and respect; of the importance of creativity in finding solutions and in the belief that with the right support children can become agents in fulfilling their own potential. I look forward to being more closely involved in the process.

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What is “banking compassion” and why does in matter in Alternative Provision schools?

by Dr Catherine Brennan | May 18, 2023 | Alternative Provision, Blog

n my role as a leader in an education charity with a small independent special school at its heart, I have designed and delivered courses in behaviour management which incorporate the ethos of the organization and train professionals in best practice. Key among the core values I strongly advocate for is the importance of ‘Banking Compassion’ – a term we use a lot at the school but which originates in work done by Portsmouth Local Safeguarding Board back in 2016. It refers to the belief in continuing to invest professional love and care in the children and families we serve, without any guarantee of a return. In attempting to explain the concept I’ve been reflecting on a day a few years ago which highlights the lived reality of ‘Banking Compassion’ for staff working in SEN.

For me the day in question was full of the usual hustle and bustle of a school day combined with meetings involving various aspects of the organisation’s work – a complex discussion about one of our services took up most of the morning, and this was interrupted by knocks on the door and phones ringing with questions from staff, students and outside callers. A Year 11 group set off on their DofE residential – they all pitched up despite the cold and drizzly weather – a triumph in itself; there were lots of safeguarding worries to deal with, which is normal for us; there was a lot of laughter among staff and students and absolute hilarity at times – also normal!

At around 2.00 pm I received a phone call from a member of school SLT who had been assaulted by a student whilst driving him home. The incident was particularly upsetting because at one stage the student spat in this staff member’s face, a traumatic thing to deal with at any point, but at the height of a global pandemic, as we were at the time, it brought with it more acute anxieties than usual.

The manager was very calm and insisted that she was ok; she continued with her day and was there to support her team at debrief. When I spoke with her later in the afternoon, her main concern was what the child was going through, and what the consequences for him would be. She understood the implications for managing the risks going forward, but was very anxious that no decisions should be made which would have a negative impact on the child in the long run. Another colleague, who works with the same child and has been at the receiving end of some similarly dangerous behaviour, came to me to express deep concern about the impact on the student and his family of anything which would interrupt his education.

Tough decisions have to be made, in each case, which take into account the needs of the child and the risks entailed for her/him, for other students and for staff at the school. This is always a complex and nuanced process involving the student, parents, commissioners and other external stakeholders working with the family. In this case significant time, energy and resources were invested in generating a raft of measures which would keep everyone safe, would avoid another painful rejection for the student and which would ensure his needs would continue to be met, including his need for love and belonging.

Whatever decisions are made, we check ourselves to ensure that they are underpinned by the commitment of staff to bank compassion with our children, and that this overrides other considerations. The school team build and maintain authentic relationships with students, with all the challenges and responsibilities these carry; it is in the DNA of our work to hold at the forefront of practice an enduring concern for the best interests of the children in our care, regardless of the rejection from them we face on a daily basis.

Continuing to bank compassion in the face of physical aggression, verbal abuse, threats and phlegm is a major test of our commitment to the models we rely on. Those of us who work with children who have special educational needs, the alternative is unimaginable.

Dr Catherine Brennan

Designated Safeguarding Lead and Head of School