Dundee Primary School Project
10 Dundee primary schools have signed up to receive a free Share the Chores School Tool Kit for the start of the 2025/26 session.
Why Dundee first?
Dundee has a problem:
Scotland’s highest incidence of domestic abuse of any Scottish city.*
*Official Statistics for Scotland 2020-21
““...we need to do more for prevention in our own city of Dundee ... where we have alarmingly high incidences of domestic abuse compared to other cities in Scotland.””
Starting with Dundee, our goal is to expand activities across Scotland, funding dependent.
We recognise the importance of listening to children. They are curious, interested and ready to share their views.
Their opinions count, and help us to understand the impact of our resources and how children relate them to their own lives. Without their input, we are unable to make necessary improvements.
“Gender inequality in household chores could cause domestic abuse if the chores aren’t split equally because one person could start an argument and that leads to a fight.” - P7 pupil, Dundee.
This short film is based on P7 pupils’ experience of their children-teaching-children initiative, where they led a P2 lesson.
What Dundee teachers Are Saying
We work closely with teachers in a constant effort to improve the impact of our resources.
“The pupils enjoyed having the chance to talk about real-life situations and share their own ideas, which made the topic feel relevant to them. Pupils were beginning to question stereotypes and think more openly about how responsibilities can be shared. a really positive lesson that got pupils thinking and talking about an important topic.” - Claypotts Castle Primary School
“Our school staff were very interested in terms of the levels of domestic abuse against women in Dundee, mindsets of parents [and] learners around gender equality, and the importance of our work as educators to create conditions for challenging conversations.”
— Headteacher
“We’re incredibly fortunate to be involved in this fantastic initiative. It was clear in the early steps how powerful and beneficial this would be for our young people.”
— PHSE lead teacher
“I wouldn't have thought about doing this before - looking at gender equality in the home and fairness of household chores, but now I think it is PRESSING.”
— P4 teacher
“We opted in for the pilot because we felt that there is lot of gender stereotyping going on; the resource highlighted that this is the case and the cards have helped to challenge this.”
— Headteacher
“100% it could help change behaviour. If we repeat the sessions every year, I wouldn't limit the sessions to P4 and above, I would start with P1 with an adapted version."
— P4 teacher
“We have a high rate of domestic violence in our community and we have made steps to having more focus on gender equality when teaching through our curriculum. This really would sit well with what we hope to achieve with our school community.”
— Headteacher
Education Scotland:
Education settings have a unique opportunity, not only to identify and support children and young people who have experienced domestic abuse, but also to challenge some of the root causes, by promoting positive and healthy relationships and challenging gender inequality. Children and young people have different needs when they are living with domestic abuse and, later, when they recover from their experiences of domestic abuse. Early support is crucial, as this can help mitigate the long-term impact of domestic abuse and help improve outcomes for children across education, development, health and relationships.