London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Ofsted chief warns against victim blaming in ‘modesty’ shorts row

Ofsted chief warns against victim blaming in ‘modesty’ shorts row

Amanda Spielman questioned by MPs about reports of primary school girls being told to wear shorts under skirts
The chief inspector of schools in England has intervened in a row over girls being told to wear “modesty” shorts under their skirts at primary school, warning against a culture of “victim blaming”.

Amanda Spielman was responding to MPs’ questions following reports that some primary schools are encouraging girls as young as four to wear shorts as an undergarment so they don’t show their underwear when they do cartwheels and handstands in the playground.

There is also an increasing trend in secondary schools for girls to wear shorts under their skirts or summer dresses to prevent “upskirting” – now a criminal offence – where photos are taken under someone’s clothing without them knowing, either for sexual gratification or to cause upset.

Spielman was being questioned on Tuesday by MPs on the cross-party education committee about the inspectorate’s safeguarding record after the publication last week of Ofsted’s review of sexual misconduct in schools.

The inspectorate was asked to conduct a rapid review after thousands of harrowing testimonies detailing sexual abuse and misconduct in schools were posted on the Everyone’s Invited website earlier this year.

Asked about reports of so-called “modesty” shorts, Spielman warned against leaping to conclusions based on media stories but added: “I think it’s really important we don’t slide into a national culture that’s essentially victim-blaming.”

She went on: “In a primary school, I would very much hope we can find solutions in addressing any cultural problems that could be making girls feel uncomfortable doing normal things that every child should be doing in the playground, doing somersaults or cartwheels or what have you.”

In an evidence session lasting two and a half hours, Spielman raised some eyebrows when she appeared to suggest that boys sending nude pictures of themselves to girls should not be treated as a safeguarding issue for schools.

Asked by the Labour MP Ian Mearns when is an allegation of sexual harassment involving a child not a safeguarding issue, the chief inspector said she had been talking to a group of girls who had recently left school and all but one had received such pictures.

“Most of the girls laughed that off,” said Spielman. “They would not want to be pulled into safeguarding procedures by reason of being sent a photograph that they think is simply contemptible.”

Questioned again by Mearns on whether it was not a safeguarding issue for the boy who sent the picture, Spielman said: “In sexual misconduct of every kind, there’s a spectrum from the truly evil and appalling at one extreme, all the way down to things which are essentially clumsy explorations of emerging adolescent sexuality.”

She said schools were finding it difficult to decide what is a cause for serious concern and what is a matter of educating pupils. “So there is one piece that’s about culture and education and one piece that’s about the point at which you invoke formal proceedings of any kind whether it’s safeguarding or criminal.”

Spielman also defended Ofsted following criticism from Conservative MP Maria Miller in the Guardian, who accused the inspectorate of a “massive safeguarding failure” after its own report showed that sexual harassment and abuse was so commonplace in children’s lives they did not bother to report it.

Miller was chair of the women and equalities select committee five years ago when it published a landmark report that exposed for the first time the scale of sexual harassment, abuse and violence in England’s schools. She said Ofsted should have done more to protect girls from the sexual misconduct since then.

Spielman said she had taken up her role three months after the committee published its report, and Ofsted was already considering how to include a requirement on reporting sexual harassment and violence in its framework.

“We did an immense amount first to make sure it was built into the framework and secondly to ensure what is as important as having words in the framework, having inspectors fully trained and prepared, and the sector understanding what is going to be discussed at inspection.” It was a surprise to many, she said, that only 6% of schools had reported any allegations.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×