I'm A Headteacher. I Don't Think Adolescence Should Be Shown In Schools

The Prime Minister has called for the Netflix drama Adolescence to be shown in schools. His impulse to inoculate boys and young men against the online pandemic of toxic masculinity is laudable.

But his recommendation is misplaced.  

Adolescence will only serve as a warning if teenage boys at risk of radicalisation recognise the behaviours it portrays onscreen as aberrant and nihilistic.

They may not. Indeed, it is likely that many will not.

Research warns us against ‘negative social norming’, the risk that education unintentionally normalises the thing it is trying to eliminate.

For those engaged in – even on the fringe of – bullying, misogyny and violence, watching Adolescence could positively reinforce those tendencies, while sending other students off in search of the very content the series warns about.

This week, Netflix shared it will be making the show available to all secondary schools across the UK.

An uncritical viewing of Adolescence – not untypical among marginally engaged teenagers – could amplify the signal that boys and young men are simply a problem group.

The drama itself provides positive male role models such as Ashley Walters in deliberate counterweight to this suggestion.

But will these characters cut through as clearly as 14-year-old Owen Cooper’s exceptional performance as murderer Jamie? I doubt it.

The Prime Minister’s intervention was doubtless motivated by a sense that this sort of content is best encountered in schools, under expert supervision. In principle, of course, I agree.

But navigating the issues raised by Adolescence requires advanced skills that not every teacher possesses.

Even in my own school, one of the most academic in the country, I would only show Adolescence to sixth formers under the guidance of teachers with both relevant expertise and specific training.

There is, sadly, no guarantee that the boys and young men at greatest risk of being drawn into the ‘manosphere’ receive the best teaching in these areas.

A fair-minded observer might find the opposite more likely. (Adolescence’s only genuine misstep is in its wildly unrealistic portrayal of a secondary school; indulging to the full the trope of the feral working class teen.)

Adolescence is an exceptional piece of drama. Its makers fully deserve their critical acclaim and their place in our national conversation about the all-too real risks of toxic masculinity. 

But it is a drama about teenagers, not for teenagers.

Alex Crossman is Headteacher of the London Academy of Excellence