TEACHERS have voiced concerns about the sexualisation of children and young people and the danger of them facing sexual harassment on social media.

School staff spoke about their fears in a survey organised by Rape Crisis Scotland after a series of events for pupils on the theme of preventing sexual violence.

Members of the profession were also concerned about pupils entering into abusive relationships, while pupils said it was important that they are given access to a wide range of sexual health topics, including discussions surrounding the law of consent.

The Sexual Violence Prevention Project was run in partnership with 10 rape crisis centres across Scotland, and works with young people in schools and youth projects on issues relating to sexual violence, the law and the use of social media.

Between October 2013 and March 2015, 8,412 young people from 79 schools and 22 youth agencies attended the workshops, the majority of them 13-15-year-olds.

Almost all of those who took part said that the workshops were an important part of their education, and that they now understood how the law surrounding consent works and where someone can go for help if they have been affected by sexual violence.

One-third of young people said they had changed their opinions after attending three workshops, and in many cases boys were more likely to change their opinions than girls.

Sandy Brindley, from Rape Crisis Scotland, said: "If we are serious about reducing sexual violence, we need to prioritise working with young people, to make sure that they have safe spaces to explore issues around consent and healthy sexual relationships.

"The findings of the evaluation are really significant, and show that our approach works - it is clearly possible to change attitudes, and from that to look at how we change behaviour.

"It is essential that young people know what the law says, what kind of behaviour constitutes rape and what consent actually means."

Sara Scott, one of the report's authors, added: "The evaluation was able to demonstrate that a relatively small intervention - of just three hour long workshops - can have a significant impact on both knowledge and attitudes.

"We observed that the delivery of the programme was of a consistently high quality and this enabled girls and boys across a range of age and ability to engage with the contents, express their opinions and for many of them to change their attitudes in a healthy direction."