Bendigo calls for consent emphasis in school sex education

It comes after thousands around the country marched in response to allegations of sexual assault against members of parliament and their staff, calling for justice, and strategies for deep-rooted cultural change.

The Teach Us Consent petition calls for the issue to be at the forefront of educational issues in schools. It has accrued testimonies from thousands of people, often detailing incidents of sexual harassment, abuse or assault during their school years.

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Bendigo Youth Council deputy mayor Ryan Peterson said sex education seemed to be an under-developed area of schools' curriculum. Mr Peterson said the course did not really cover the experiences of young people beginning their sex lives, especially what those who might be LGBTIQ.

He said sex education in schools often focused on the important issue of assault, but there still needed to be more education overall.

Mr Peterson said consent was a huge conversation for young people, as it was important they understood that boundary before they started to engage in that part of their life.

"It's ... the foundation of a healthy and respectful relationship between two people. That is so important when you're going into a topic area that is so sensitive as sex," Mr Peterson said.

Reflecting on his own experience, Mr Peterson said sex education was pretty poor during his time at school. He said the subject was maybe not far-reaching enough about issues about the role of men in sexual assault, and consent in sexual situations.

Mr Peterson said a difficulty with any curriculum change was that it would be hard to enact outside of the state system, in Catholic and other independent schools.

Speaking at the March 4 Justice on Monday, Loddon Campaspe Centre Against Sexual Assault chief executive Kate Wright said it was vital to have programs that embedded gender equality training, awareness, and information from very early in families' lives, to make long-term change.

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"Consent in high school is too late," Ms Wright said.

"We need to actually be bringing up our children, and talking in our communities, and having conversations about power, and power structures, and how decisions are made for the benefit of all."

Bendigo Senior Secondary College principal Dale Pearce said schools' work in teaching respectful relationships was important, but needed to be done in conjunction with families and community members.

Mr Pearce said there was a distance between the issues raised in the petition and schools' sex education curriculum. But he said the petition - and rallies across Australia calling for justice over sexual violence - would have an effect far beyond the curriculum.

He said it was clear from the petition and rallies that the nation needed to do something different around sex education, but it had a long way to go.

Mr Pearce said teaching respect was a constant challenge, because whatever the school's efforts, some individuals would still behave inappropriately.

He said one of school's most important roles was to engage with families, especially if they were struggling with their children's behaviour.

For schools, Mr Pearce said it was as much about the values they adopted, and the messages they sent young people and families, as the curriculum.

"It's bigger than one subject, it's bigger than what traditionally might have been viewed or termed sex education. It's much broader than that," he said.

"It's actually about the modelling that we do in schools, the modelling that staff do. It's about our communication with students, it's about our communication with parents."

Education Minister James Merlino said there was a clear issue across Australia about the understanding of consent. He said the Victorian Respectful Relationships program went directly to this issue.

Mr Merlino said he had instructed the Department to meet with Chanel Contos, who organised the petition, and work with the Respectful Relationships Advisory Group to look at ways it could strengthen how and when consent was taught in schools.

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