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Article Consent Education Mandatory In Australian Schools From Next Year

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All year levels in every Australian school will begin consent education from next year, as part of the curriculum.

The move to make consent education mandatory from prep or kindergarten/foundation right through to year 12 comes after a campaign spearheaded by former Sydney private school student Chanel Contos. In February last year, Chanel polled her Instagram followers to gauge how many had been sexually assaulted by someone while at school. The overwhelming response triggered Chanel to create an online petition, calling for a, ‘more holistic and earlier consent education to be introduced into our school curriculum’.

Chanel took to Instagram to applaud everyone who had been part of the campaign. “After over 44,000 signatures, more than 6,700 testimonies of sexual assault, and countless hours of volunteer work and support, we are very happy to announce that we did it!

“This monumental change has only been made possible because of the tens of thousands of voices that have supported this movement over the last 12 months, the countless hours of volunteer support, and the foundation that was laid before by pioneering activists in this space,” Chanel wrote.


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A post shared by CHANEL ⋆ (@chanelc)

She explained that the new curriculum ‘will incorporate comprehensive consent education including the understanding of gendered stereotypes, coercion and power imbalances.’

Chanel says the lessons will be appropriately based on students’ ages.

“The curriculum is age-appropriate the whole way through so when we are in kindergarten we do not talk about consent in an explicitly sexual way, it is about sharing toys and asking for permission, denying permission and it builds upon that as students get older,” Chanel told Sunrise.

The move to introduce consent education into the curriculum was confirmed by Senator Jonathon Duniam during senate estimates this week. “There was unanimous support from ministers to the consent content in the health and physical education curriculum,” he said.

While the Victorian and New South Wales governments had already committed to making consent education mandatory, it was only applicable to state schools. However, the new mandate includes all Australian schools, including independent schools.

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  • Sounds like a good idea to me

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  • I think its a good idea.

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  • This is so needed in schools. Well done !

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  • Great idea

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  • This is a wonderful idea as long as it’s done appropriately.

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  • I’m with a previous mum on this one.. please teach it with care and appropriately.

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  • This is a good idea, although I’m surprised it’s not taught at home.

    • It should be taught at home but unfortunately not all parents teach their kids things like this

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  • Early education. It will just become a part of every day life and learning for this young generation.

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  • What an achievement ????

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  • about time

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  • I have told my children from a very young age about inappropriate touching. As long as the parents are up to speed with what is to be taught so they can continue the discussions at home and support the children with any questions or support they need.

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  • Goes hand in hand with sex ed, says me.

    I think it’s a travesty it’s taken until 2022 for this to happen.

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  • Whilst I don’t think this is a bad idea, I’d really like for it to be handled properly. I’d hate for little kids to freak out every time someone touched them, or they touched someone on the arm, or bumped into somebody. I feel each school needs to employ someone specially trained in this. I know a high school teacher who basically told all of her female students that if their dad touched them anywhere other than the top of their head or their shoulders he was sexually assaulting them… some of her high school students began freaking out that they had been assaulted by their dads. So basically not every teacher is qualified to be teaching this.

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  • Never too young to start educating kids about this, so long as it is age appropriate

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  • This is exactly what is needed to make a change!

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  • This is a great idea. It also sounds like they have thought about how to make it age appropriate. When supported by discussions at home this will be a great step in the right direction.

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  • A great idea in theory, kids need to learn about it, I just worry it may be confusing for them and could cause issues when things aren’t what they seem

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  • Very important to teach this from a young age

    • Actually it’s sad that this is needed

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  • About time.
    Not every kid has parents who even know enough about consent to teach it to their kids,
    Not every kid has parents.

    This gives ALL kids who attend school, access to the same information.

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  • As long as parents take some responsibility for educating their kids about this too.

    Reply
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