As educators, we are constantly striving to understand the evolving landscape of young people's lives—socially, emotionally, and digitally. The Netflix drama series ‘Adolescence’ offers a raw, compelling window into the real experiences, pressures, and complexities facing teenagers today, and it has exponentially increased media coverage around themes of misogyny, toxic influences and a mental health crisis among adolescent boys.
Adolescence brings to the surface the often unseen struggles that young people navigate daily. It challenges us to look beyond behaviour and symptoms and instead ask deeper questions: what is happening in our young people’s lives that drives them into often extreme online worlds? How can we create environments of trust where young people feel safe to express themselves? How can we better safeguard young people from potentially toxic influences?
This drama series raises difficult, sometimes uncomfortable questions, but for those of us working in education, these themes are not new. Whilst the drama series does shine an important light on challenges faced by our young people, calls in the UK and other parts of the world for the series to be shown in all Secondary schools have rightly been met with concern.
The PSHE Association in the UK has issued the following guidance to schools, which we feel demonstrates the need for a considered and integrated approach;
“While we have heard some suggestions that the series itself might be worth showing in class, we would be very wary of doing so given the issues it covers would need careful unpacking.
Aside from the fact that it carries a BBFC Age-15 rating (and therefore wouldn’t be appropriate for viewers under that age in schools), the practicalities of showing a four-hour series in class without sufficient time to explore these themes would leave a lot of questions and concerns unresolved.
For some it may also prove shocking or triggering, although the issues it explores will be all too
familiar to many young people already.
Instead, we would recommend addressing the underlying issues (including misogyny and toxic influences) via your planned PSHE/RSHE curriculum.”
Our Secondary Wellbeing Curriculum contains a spiral relationships and sex education (RSE) curriculum that specifically addresses, in an age and stage appropriate way, boundaries and consent; healthy, unhealthy and abusive relationship behaviours; managing conflict and the ending of relationships, the impacts of pornography (Year 10 upwards), and more recently, for Year 11, the difference between developmentally typical, problematic and harmful sexual behaviours. We have intentionally chosen not to teach about well-known, misogynistic and toxic influencers, as this only perpetuates their status and potentially introduces them to young people who would otherwise not have known about them.
Instead, our Digital Citizenship Curriculum aims to encourage students to be critical thinkers regarding online content, and to question motivations, and our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) themed lessons highlight the dangers of stereotypes, the importance of belonging and the need for equity and inclusion.
We will not be showing the series at school and would recommend that any parents who are considering showing this to their child (age 15 or older), watch this first themselves. There are a number of distressing scenes and parents need to be ready and prepared to engage in some difficult conversations.
Some Key Takeaways From the Drama and Resultant Discussions:
- Some boys and young men are struggling to understand their place in the world. Traditional gender roles are being challenged and redefined and expectations of what it means to be a ‘man’ are rapidly changing.
- Connection and a sense of belonging are key factors in the prevention of extremism. And when we talk about connection, we mean being in the company of others, in-person, whether this is family members or peers. Connecting online with peers isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it shouldn’t be the only form of connection.
- Getting to know our students and taking a genuine professional interest in their lives, is a protective factor for many young people. Positive relationships underpin academic and personal success.
- Parents need to have awareness of what children are accessing online. Unlimited, unfiltered access isn’t safe. Algorithms will pull viewers towards more and more extreme content. Parents need to set clear, age-appropriate boundaries around tech use.
- Boys need positive male role models to counter toxic influences. Whether this is at home, in school, or within community groups, boys are learning from watching others. And if they don’t have these role models in their lives, they will seek these role models online.
For anyone who might like to understand more about some of the complex themes explored in ‘Adolescence’ below are some suggested links. Please note these are very Eurocentric and may not be representative of the Singapore-specific context.
Podcasts:
- Manosphere in the mirror: researching the marketing of misogyny Fully Human (February 2025). A podcast from the PSHE Association’s research and development arm, which investigates what’s actually happening in the manosphere; how it’s affecting children and young people; and how we might respond.
- Are young men in crisis? BBC Newscast (March 2025). A look at the challenges faced by young men and boys. James and Alex are joined by Ed Davies, Policy Director of the think tank the Centre for Social Justice, and Ceylon Andi Hickman, director at Football Beyond Borders. They discuss what’s driving the problem, which Southgate and the Centre for Social Justice says is a ‘crisis’.
- Masculinity Debate: Are dating apps creating a generation of Incels? Diary of a CEO on Spotify (March 2025). Are we raising a lost generation of men? Is society failing young boys? In this discussion, Steven Bartlett sits down with guests to explore the recently published ‘Lost Boys Report’. The Diary Of A CEO’s masculinity discussion is joined by Scott Galloway and Logan Ury. Scott Galloway is a member of the advisory council for the American Institute for Boys and Men and Professor of Marketing at the New York Stern School of Business. Logan Ury is a behavioural scientist turned dating coach and Director of Relationship Science at Hinge.
- Sir Gareth Southgate: The Richard Dimbleby Lecture – Available on BBC iPlayer in the UK (March 2025). Former England football manager reflects on his personal journey as a leader and the importance of belief and resilience. He suggests boys and young men are spending too much time gaming, gambling and watching porn and talks about the importance of relationships, connects and having a trusted adult.
Articles/Guidance:
- Lost Boys - State of the Nation UK Centre for Social Justice (March 2025). A study by the Centre for Social Justice, highlights a growing crisis among UK boys and young men, who are falling behind in education, employment, social mobility, and mental health, particularly due to issues like fatherlessness and societal pressures.
- Understanding the influence of online misogyny in schools from the perspective of teachers Over, Bunce, Baggaley & Zendle (2025). Young people are increasingly exposed to toxic online misogyny through social media. However, to date, it is not clear how exposure to online misogyny might be influencing the behaviour and experiences of adolescents and children. As a first step towards answering this question, Over et al surveyed 200 teachers, 100 of whom were based in secondary schools and 100 of whom were based in primary schools in the UK.
- Incels – A short guide for those teaching Year 10 and above Educate Against Hate, UK Government. This guide explains what the Incel online subculture is and the signs that a young person may be engaging with it.
- Addressing misogyny, toxic masculinity and social media influence through PSHE education UK PSHE Association (2023). Guidance for teachers, PSHE Leads and DSL’s to understand the issues and risks, teach about these topics safely and address the issues through PSHE
- A study of online misogyny in Singapore Quilt.AI & Aware (2021). This research establishes an evidence base for how certain online misogyny manifests, provides information on popular opposition narratives to gender equality, and paints a comprehensive picture of how online users engage in discourse around gender-based violence.
If you have any concerns about your child, or wish to seek further advice on any of the themes or issues raised, please reach out to your child’s Form Tutor, Progress Leader or a member of our Safeguarding Team.
Jacqueline Glazerman
Dover Court International School
Deputy Head of Secondary & Designated Safeguarding Lead
