The Mentors in Violence Prevention Program (MVP) is an approach to gender violence and bullying prevention and is designed to give students the skills to speak out against issues which affect relationships within our schools and communities by adopting a positive ‘bystander’ approach.
Through peer mentoring, younger students are encouraged to consider and discuss different scenarios such as behaviour online, the use of harmful language, coercive control, gender labelling and alcohol and consent. They are then provided with a range of safe options which can prevent situations from escalating.
To access the Scottish Government’s Equally Safe: Scotland’s Strategy for Eradicating Violence Against Women and Girls Policy 2023, click here. To access the Scottish Government’s Preventing and Responding to Gender Based Violence: A Whole School Framework, click GBV National Framework for Schools.
MVP is running in all of our secondary schools with over 500 pupil involved and taking part in mentor training. This is an excellent opportunity to consider issues around child protection, gender box, recognising respectful and abusive language and behaviour and developing skills in leadership and facilitation. Mentors are able to gain accreditation for their work through a range of awards from the SQA and the Scottish Government’s Saltire Award. In 2017, Paisley Grammar School’s mentors gained recognition at Renfrewshire Youth Services Awards and, in 2019, were filmed by BBC North for a news article on tackling knife crime. In 2023, our Young and Equally Safe in Renfrewshire (YES) project was recognised at the Renfrewshire Youth Services Awards and in 2024, pupils from Trinity High School were filmed by BBC Scotland news for an article on school behaviour and, most recently, our YES project was shortlisted as a finalist in the Youthlink National Award 2026.
In April 2026, Park Mains High School in Erskine was the focus for an Education Scotland case study on engaging boys and men in the MVP programme. Have a listen to what some young mentors shared about their approach. You can click here for the full case study.
We were delighted to have piloted Education Scotland’s MVP training for colleagues within Early Years and Primary sectors in September 2024. In session 2026/27 we will be working with EY/Primary colleagues to produce a new gender-based violence resource. This will be funded by our YES project. To access MVP’s primary focused lessons on social inclusion, click here. These lessons can be delivered from P5-7. You can also download our 2025 YES resource “All In, All Equal” which provides short activities for upper primary aged pupils.
Since October 2021, following a successful bid to the Scottish Government’s Equally Safe Fund, we have been working with Renfrewshire Youth Services
to take MVP into the community. For more information regarding our Equally Safe in Renfrewshire work, contact Fiona White or Emma Muir (Youth Services Lead) at emma.muir@renfrewshire.gov.uk This work is on-going thanks to continued funding through to 2028. At the end of last session (June, 2025) this funding allowed us to host a Scotland-wide Youth Assembly for Education Scotland with key speaker Jackson Katz. Click on the video to find out more.
Click here to access Education Scotland’s annual MVP reports.
The programme relies on building successful partnerships across Education, Health, Youth Services and Police Scotland with over 200 staff trained across all sectors by our own training team. The training team consists includes:
- Jane Ahlfeld – Home Link Worker
- Mark Fulton – PT Pupil Support, St. Andrew’s Academy
- Kevin Gillick – Youth Services (currently seconded as MVP Development Officer at Education Scotland)
- Ashlinn McAleer – Victim Support Scotland
- Kimberley McVey – Acting Depute Head Teacher, Riverbrae School
- Cameron Malcolm – PT Pupil Support, Renfrew High School
- Andrew Mitchell – Active School Lead, OneRen
- Emma Muir – Youth Services
- Katie Scott – Gryffe High School
- Cheryl Thomas – Programmes Development Manager – Active Communities
- Fiona White – Development Officer Health and Wellbeing
If you wish further information regarding the programme, please contact Fiona White (Coordinator) by email – fiona.hewitt@renfrewshire.gov.uk
You can find clips of our mentors on our Health and Wellbeing YouTube channel.
- BBC North article on Scotland’s approach to violent crime
- 16 Days of Action 2021
- Youth Group of the Year 2017
To hear discussion from around gender-based violence from Jackson Katz who developed the programme in America, click on the clip above. This session was hosted by St Pauls Youth Forum in Glasgow.
Click here to access Education Scotland’s Wakelet on Domestic Abuse.
Click here to access Education Scotland’s MVP Wakelet.
