‘My daughter would still be alive’: Campaigners call for teen education on relationship abuse
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Our daughters would still be alive if teenagers were better educated about domestic abuse, a group of campaigners has told ITV News, after delivering a petition to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
They are calling on the government to bring in a law which would ensure all teenagers learn about healthy relationships, not just school-age children.
Figures suggest that 16 to 19 year olds form the age group which suffers most from abusive relationships. The Office for National Statistics says 8.7% of these teenagers report experiencing domestic abuse.
However, there is currently no legal requirement for students of that age to be taught Relationship and Sex Education (RSE).
Ellie Gould, 17, was stabbed to death by her boyfriend Thomas Griffiths, after she ended their relationship. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 12 years and six months.
Her mother Carole – who co-founded the charity Killed Women, which supports families affected by male violence – believes her daughter would still be alive had she been taught to spot the red flags in her controlling relationship.
“I do believe that if this education had been in the sixth form where Ellie went, she could possibly still be here today,” she said, adding that she would have handled her break up differently, if she had known how dangerous men can be when they are “jealous and have a pathological need for control”.
Faustine Petron, who started the campaign for more relationship education, was herself a victim of domestic abuse before her ex boyfriend was sent to jail.
Her campaign – named Make It Mandatory – says RSE, which is already taught in primary and secondary schools – says should be extended to colleges and sixth forms. Over 105,000 people have signed her petition.
A government spokesperson, responding to the statement, suggested ministers were listening.
“We are considering every option to fundamentally transform the system and address the issue of domestic abuse head on, and that includes everything from supporting victims to looking at whether we need to change the law,” the statement said.
Faustine was 16 when she found herself in an abusive relationship, but says she was never taught how to spot the signs.
Had she been taught about domestic abuse and coercive control, she believes she would have spotted the numerous red flags and ended the relationship much sooner.
“I wasn’t taught anything about coercive control,” she said. “What the signs are, what the signs of a healthy relationship are, or where to get help.
“I honestly believe that having that education, I would have been able to spot the red flags early in the relationship, like the warning flags of domestic abuse, and been able to leave that relationship before it escalated beyond coercive control and became more violent and physically abusive.”
Faustine escaped her abuser with her life, but thousands of other victims haven’t been so lucky and the statistics, while unsurprising to many women, are extremely concerning.
Content retrieved from: https://www.itv.com/news/2025-06-17/campaigners-call-for-mandatory-education-for-teens-on-relationship-abuse.
