Session 6:
What's at stake?
Session overview
Young people would never choose to be exploited. They would never choose to do what predators want them to do. They would never choose to hurt, coerce or manipulate others. Yet these things happen, so why do they do it? How does it happen at all?
The reality is that, in the cold light of day, making a conscious decision to engage in the kinds of harmful behaviours we hear about is unthinkable unless, somewhere along the line, some other factor is influencing those decisions. Young people are targeted by those who have identified their vulnerability to being exploited. These predators then test young people, using their own needs against them to persuade them to engage in harmful behaviours because doing so appears to offer an answer to their need to feel a sense of worth, belonging and status. Young people then become trapped, to the extent they move away from the point of safety, away from those they could trust, entangled in situations they would never have chosen and feeling unable to free themselves.
This is true in the shocking case of criminal and sexual exploitation, but equally so in the way that young people sometimes influence other young people into decisions that can ultimately lead them to harm. Session Six revisits some of the critical events and decisions from the story, considering the more significant and long-term impact they could have. This is particularly relevant in the context of the transition students have recently made to secondary school, a time when their lives are likely to become more complex. At the same time, they may simultaneously feel (rightly or wrongly) that they are less supported. To illustrate this, they will consider a process of becoming negatively influenced or 'groomed' to act or behave in specific ways, once again using events from the story to illustrate this process. In this context, the term 'grooming' describes any kind of behaviour designed to coerce or negatively influence someone else, regardless of whether that occurs between peers or is being perpetrated by a recognised 'predator'.
A. Key takeaways
That grooming is a real threat both in person and online
How to avoid grooming and what to do if they or a friend is being groomed
Grooming behaviour often isn't obvious when it's happening
B. Resources required
All resources can be found at the foot of this page
❏ Teacher notes for Session Six
❏ Checklist for Session Six
❏ Slide pack for Session Six
❏ Worksheet(s) for Session Six
C. Terminology introduced
Please note any new terminology used and share it with Lime with as part of this pilot.
Starter activity: What is grooming?
Being influenced or ‘groomed’
Young people often don't realise they are being exploited. Still, the reality is that they're not in control of the situation, or their psychological state has caused them to surrender control. Therefore, an exploiter can take advantage of this, often exercising power over them simply by using their age, gender, intellect, physical strength, or other resources. Building on work they have previously completed to understand how people are influenced, and also drawing on their understanding of Choice Theory's basic human needs, this activity will explore the process of 'grooming'. It does this by introducing a simple framework to demonstrate how some people manipulate others.
FACILITATOR TIP:
Before you begin, recap and review ground rules as a class.
Discuss any rules created which worked well, together with any that didn't work - do they need to change? Make amendments if needed. Ensure pupils are clear why ground rules are used and why they are so important.
EXPLAIN: We’re going to look at ways in which someone might be groomed.
ASK: What do we understand about the term ‘grooming’?
Briefly, invite views from the class. Establish that, for the purpose of this Programme, we will define grooming as:
The process of befriending/establishing an emotional connection with someone in order to exploit or abuse them in some way.
Stress that:
This can take place online or face-to-face.
It can be committed by a stranger or someone they know and by adults and/or other young people.
Activity one: Target, Test, Trap!
Target, test, trap
Grooming is a preparatory process in which a predator gradually gains a person's trust with the intent to exploit them. The victim is usually a child, teen, or vulnerable adult. The purpose of grooming is to manipulate the person into becoming a co-operating participant in their abuse or exploitation, which reduces the likelihood of a disclosure and increases the possibility that the victim will become attached and repeatedly return to the perpetrator. Grooming is conducted in a systematic, organised way and can be described in three distinct phases.
EXPLAIN:
We'll now break this down into several stages to help us understand even more about how someone might try to influence us.
Establish that there is usually a distinct process or pattern of behaviours used. Try to group students’ responses/thoughts/opinions in terms of the following stages:
• Target
• Test
• Trap
Use the following descriptions to help.
ASK:
How might a young person be identified to be groomed?
EXPLAIN: Stage one: ‘Target’
This is when an exploiter targets a young person, gauging their level of vulnerability in terms of emotional neediness, isolation and/or lower self-confidence. All of these reduce the chances of the exploiter getting caught. Exploiters pick their targets based on things like age, strength or situation. Children/young people with less parental oversight are more desirable prey. They will observe them and attempt to gain their trust, sharing their information with other group members. Typically, they will:
• Observe a young person
• Find out their vulnerabilities, needs and wants
• Glamourise their own lifestyle
• Gain and develop a young person's trust
• Recruit a young person into their group
• Mark a young person as someone to watch
ASK:
How might a young person be identified to be groomed?
EXPLAIN: Stage Two: ‘Test’
This is where an exploiter might try to get a young person used to their lifestyle or train them in what they're doing. They're testing them to see if they will be susceptible to exploitation. The exploiter is testing how the young person responds to such a lifestyle. During this time, they'll include them in their activities while making them feel wanted and gaining their trust. Typically, they will go through two sub-stages:
'Test' Substage 1:
• Give the young person gifts and rewards
• Praise them
• Ask to see their skills
• Give them a weapon
• Introduce them to members of their group
• Make them feel wanted
• Test their loyalty
• Relate to them and offer advice
• Give them a sense of belonging
‘Test’ Substage 2:
• Having an identity in the group or being given a more prominent role in the group (so you may have people running for you)
• Getting more responsibilities within the group, e.g. more money
• Encouraged to engage in thrill-seeking behaviour
• Asked to participate in things they are uncomfortable with or even to commit low-level crimes
ASK:
How might a young person be forced to remain involved, even when they realise they are being exploited?
EXPLAIN: Stage Three: ‘Trap’
Now that a young person feels dependent on the group, their relationship with their exploiter may become unpleasant, as their exploiter's actual intent or character is revealed. This is the final stage where the young person feels dependent on the group, and their exploiter reveals their true intentions. The violence and risk step up as the exploiter isolates them more and more from society and forces them to carry out antisocial or criminal activity. Typical the exploiter(s) will:
• Use threatening behaviour towards the young person.
• Organise a 'fake' mugging to create debt.
• Involve them in cooking or running Class A drugs.
• Attempt to isolate them from their friends and family.
• Force them to abuse or assault others.
• Humiliate them sexually or otherwise.
• Encourage dependency on drugs.
Activity two: Was Ella groomed?
Assign students to groups of 3. Each member of the group should focus on one of the stages of grooming: Target-Test-Trap. Working through the story, students should identify examples that demonstrate each stage according to the criteria provided. Each group should feed examples back, and the teacher should poll the rest of the class to see if there is agreement on each instance and develop a consensus view (interactive voting activity). The teacher should question pupils to test their understanding of the stages.
EXPLAIN:
You'll now discuss each of the following stages with the rest of your group. Think carefully about each stage, and find examples in the story where you have seen evidence of this. Record your findings on the worksheet provided. After 10 minutes, when students have completed their worksheets, bring them together as a class.
ASK: Was Ella groomed?
As a whole class, students should provide feedback to the group, giving examples from the story to back up their ideas.
Plenary: Recognising risk
EXPLAIN:
We've seen that sometimes, the actions of others may be the result of an ulterior motive contrary to what we initially thought. Whether this will lead to exploitation, criminal or otherwise, is often unclear at the outset, so it's essential to recognise if our own vulnerabilities expose us to certain risks. If we can first identify when we might be experiencing such exposure, we can then develop safeguards to help us prevent those vulnerabilities from being exploited.
We've learned that our identity can be influenced, and we make different choices because of that influence. We've also understood that our own personal needs can influence those choices, and today we've seen that certain people exploit those needs, using them against us to lead us into making their choices rather than our own, which can put us at risk.
Do we want to understand how we can always make our own Choices?
We will look at this in detail next time.
Delivery resources
LIME Choices Y7 Session 6 Checklist (V01 16-12-21).pdfDelivery checklist
LIME Choices Y7 Session 6 Work Sheet(s) (V01 16-12-21).pdfWork sheet(s)
LIME Choices Y7 Session 6 DP Slides (V01 16-12-21).pdfSlides (PDF)
LIME Choices Y7 Session 6 DP Slides (V01 16-12-21).pptxSlides (PowerPoint)
Add in Episodes 1-4 guides here which can act as a recap for pupils or training aid for teachers