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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-30 Daily Xml
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Sex Education

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:23): My question is to the Minister for Education. What reforms will be included in sex education policies to ensure students learn about consent and how to prevent unwanted pregnancies? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms BEDFORD: I refer to an article in The Advertiser on 8 March by Chris Russell, 'The SA Education Department and individual schools are reviewing their sex education policies', in the aftermath of thousands of testimonies lodged on an online site initiated by a former Sydney private school student. While the importance of consent and sexual behaviour issues is highlighted, information regarding reforms and the impact it will have on building young people's knowledge and understanding is scarce, so I am keen to hear what the department has in mind.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (15:24): I thank the member for Florey for the question. This is important. Indeed, the site that the member refers to started obviously in Sydney, but there were a number of examples of testimony on that site from students—I am aware of particularly former students—in a number of South Australian schools, some of which were deeply concerning.

Obviously, the interpersonal relationships experienced by those particularly young women had not in their view—well, in anyone's view—seen an appropriate level of support, but a level of poor behaviour by young men that they had interacted with particularly, and consent was very much highlighted as a need for improved outcomes in the experiences of those women.

That is not to say that there isn't significant work already underway, because teachers across South Australia's public school system and indeed the non-government school system as well do by and large take this very seriously and there are hundreds of South Australian schools where this is front and centre in a number of the programs that are run. Some of those are run in conjunction with the non-government organisation SHINE SA or indeed other NGOs as well, some embedded throughout different parts of the curriculum.

There's a useful body of work, I think, that is underway I am pretty I sure I can say in conjunction with the commonwealth government; certainly it's one that I am waiting for some further advice on, but I think it's in relation to a commonwealth review as well. I will check the details when I am back in the office and get back to the member as soon as possible to make sure that I am accurately referencing it.

That will continue to enhance the work that is undertaken in South Australian schools. For example, particularly across the curriculum one of the things that has been undertaken by successive governments in South Australia is support for the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum. The member for King has raised publicly and in this chamber also concerns about that curriculum, which is I think recognised as a world-leading curriculum. It is taken up by a range of school systems outside South Australia, and we are very happy to license it to them, and it is compulsory for it to be delivered in South Australian schools.

But, as the member for King has pointed out, there are some concerns as to whether it is delivered in every school faithfully, with appropriate training, or whether there is more work that we can do to ensure that that outstanding curriculum, which I should say also is kept up to date and refreshed every couple of years—and we launched a refresh reasonably recently. The curriculum is fine, but the delivery in the classroom is critically important.

That work to review, in particular with a focus on consent, I am looking forward to having some further advice on that, but I can reassure the member that our schools, our teachers and indeed principals and wellbeing leaders across our public school system as well have this front and centre in their attention. No matter how good the curriculum is or no matter how strong a relationship with an NGO is or how well the school's own delivery is, every one of us in our work in education has a responsibility to try to do better each day, and that work will continue.

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