Education and Training Minister Sue Ellery and Women’s Interests Minister Simone McGurk today announced changes to school consent education, which will be formally included in the Western Australian curriculum.
Speaking this morning at Bob Hawke College, Ms Ellery said updates to the WA curriculum would ensure that students receive education on healthy relationships and consent from pre-primary to Year 10.
In April, State education ministers endorsed version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum published by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. This includes mandated consent education across all Australian schools.
A draft version of the new consent curriculum for Western Australia has been published by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority, and is open for comment from today.
The consent curriculum content is age-appropriate and progressive in nature. The concepts taught are developmentally relevant and appropriate to students.
In pre-primary it starts with concepts such as keeping safe and saying no, which provide the necessary foundation to address more complex skills as students mature into their secondary years.
Later in the curriculum, students are taught about real-life scenarios to help them develop vital skills and strategies to manage situations where risk is encouraged by others.
The Department of Education will support public school teachers to implement the new content in age-appropriate ways and within the context of their school community.
Early feedback on the draft changes has already been sought from teachers, representative organisations and adolescent health and education associations.
The announcement coincides with a $2.7 million expansion of the McGowan Government’s Respectful Relationships Teaching Support Program.
The Respectful Relationships program provides professional learning, resources and support for teachers and school leaders to improve their understanding of family and domestic violence, and the underlying attitudes that cause it.
The program is rolling out to an additional 22 schools across WA this year, delivering on a McGowan Government election commitment to expand the program over the next four years.
As stated by Education and Training Minister Sue Ellery:
“Schools teach students about healthy relationships and protective behaviours throughout their schooling.
“While consent education is currently taught ad hoc in WA schools, including it in the WA curriculum will ensure it is taught to all students while they are at school.
“These changes are designed to equip students and their families with age-appropriate knowledge and skills to understand the concept of consent and what healthy, respectful relationships look like in everyday settings and real-life scenarios.
“We have been told by students that they want to be taught about consent at school in a clear and direct way, to help them respond to lived scenarios, and including it in the curriculum across all education sectors will achieve this.”
As stated by Women’s Interests and Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Minister Simone McGurk:
“I’m proud that WA is one of the first jurisdictions to act on mandating consent education, which Western Australians have been calling for.
“Evidence shows that early education is a powerful tool in reducing sexual violence which we know can have lifelong consequences.
“Teaching consent will empower all students to understand how to develop healthy relationships, and will complement the Respectful Relationships program that promotes relationships that are characterised by equality, mutual respect and trust across a growing number of Western Australian schools.”
