New research reveals teachers lack formal training to address sexual health and consent
At a school in Melbourne’s inner north, Vanessa Hamilton asks 13 primary school teachers where their students learn about sexuality.
From a large table in the staff room, they shout out the answers: social media, television, YouTube, spicy novels, big siblings.
These answers are no surprise to Hamilton, a former sexual health nurse turned sexuality educator.
“You would hope they would say parent or school, but that’s not necessarily,” he says. “That’s not what I see.”
Hamilton, who previously conducted the same professional development session at the same school, says most teachers believe that when they have the right tools, teaching sex education lessons is less daunting and can be empowering than they imagine.
Despite the introduction of national guidelines in 2015 and national guidelines in 2023, La Trobe University’s Third National Survey of Australian Relationships and Sexuality Education Teachers says two-thirds of teachers still feel ill-equipped to teach on the subject, while students want more practical guidance.
The survey, released on Monday, also found that two-thirds (68.1 percent) of teachers still do not have formal training in teaching sex education to their students, while 60 percent say they are afraid of saying the wrong thing or facing negative reactions from parents.
In recent years the scope of topics has expanded from puberty, birth control, HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention and protective behavior to include discussions of consent, respectful relationships and digital literacy, including online safety, the impact of sexting and pornography.
But La Trobe researcher Lily Moor said young people were still reporting that education lacked the nuance or practical guidance they needed. With Recent research showing condom use among sexually active Australian teenagers Making sure teachers feel safe dealing with these issues is critical, Moor said.
Lead researcher Professor Jennifer Power agreed, saying the rise of misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic content online had increased scrutiny of lessons for students and parents, leaving some educators feeling uncertain about their roles.
“These broader moral and political dynamics shape teachers’ comfort and confidence in delivering RSE [relationship and sexuality education]sometimes addressing concerns raised by parents or others in the community,” Power said.
Hamilton said in his experience, most parents are supportive, but one vocal parent can be enough to derail a program.
“I’ve had one or two cancellations just because of a parent’s uneasiness, and the leadership couldn’t stand up to those parents,” he said. “Some of these people who object can be very threatening.”
La Trobe’s research also found that one in four educators have not received any training on how to respond to accounts of sexual violence or harassment from students and feel least comfortable discussing sexual pleasure, pornography and abortion.
“If we’re making all this investment to keep young people safe, we really need to make sure that schools are taking care of young people appropriately,” Moor said.
“Even if it’s not those kinds of obvious things that young people really desire about sex, we still need to make sure that we’re engaging with young people enough around sexual safety, sexual health, sexual well-being, otherwise it falls by the wayside.”
Hamilton, who has worked in the sex education industry for decades, said it was “unethical” and potentially negligent to withhold age-appropriate information from students.
“The evidence is very clear and our rates of abuse and gender-based sexual violence are very high, and education can certainly help prevent that,” she said.
He said not informing young children about issues such as menstruation until the age of 12 (which some parents prefer) was “neglect” because some children begin their periods as early as age 8.
In Victoria, the State Department of Education allocated $129 million to the Respectful Relationships initiative and employed 42 dedicated staff to provide professional training and support to educators running the programme, a government spokesman said.
The spokesperson said age-appropriate teaching and learning resources are developed by experts, made available to teachers for free use in the classroom, and cover a range of topics.
“Given the new risks posed by the misuse of AI, teaching consent and pornography awareness is more important than ever,” the spokesperson said.
Of the 482 primary and secondary teachers surveyed in public, Catholic and independent schools, 93.4 percent said they felt better prepared to undertake professional development on the subject when they were given adequate time and sufficient resources to do so.
The survey came up with 13 recommendations, including making training compulsory and developing a national outcomes framework to ensure consistent, evidence-based delivery across schools.
It also suggested frameworks and policies to ensure smooth implementation of programmes.
Sexual Health Victoria’s head of education services, Sam Read, acknowledged the approach to sexuality and relationships education was fragmented and lacked national direction.
He said a whole-school or whole-community approach is vital.
Read said, “Age- and stage-appropriate conversations need to be given at a very early age. If they have a device or have the capacity to have a device, education needs to take place in advance.”
Hamilton agreed, saying more oversight is needed to ensure schools are teaching required content and delivering it effectively.
“I can tell you there are many schools where this training is not provided,” Hamilton said.
