Conference: Making Survivors Visible in Education

This conference brings together four organisations to run workshops led by survivors and allies to share their knowledge and experiences to inform best practice for supporting survivors in education. The structure allows attendees to patricipate in all four workshops to develop a broad understanding of the challenges survivors face in educatinal contexts.

In recent years, there has been a significant rise in students coming forward to share their experiences. This reflects not only a growing awareness but also a greater willingness to break the silence that often surrounds sexual violence and childhood sexual abuse.

The goal is to better understand the complexities of these disclosures, the challenges institutions face in responding to them, and how we can improve support systems for survivors. Through workshops and discussions led by students and survivors, we hope to drive conversations about how education, healing, and safety can coexist.

This conference will explore the increasing disclosures of childhood and adult sexual violence by students in further and higher education. Institutions dedicated to learning and growth must recognise the difficult realities many students face and provide a safe, supportive environment for those impacted by sexual violence.

Universities and colleges should be supporting students to integrate themselves into the community, and actively providing pathways for students to access pre-existing communities within their cities. As well as deal with disclosures in a way that supports students instead of isolating them.