The Framework aims to support primary and secondary schools across the country to plan and deliver age-appropriate, evidence-based respectful relationships education (RRE), however academics warn it risks falling short from the outset unless investment in teacher professional development and training is significantly lifted.
They say the framework also doesn’t focus enough on consent education and needs to be “more bold” in addressing the Government’s national plan to end violence against women and children.
The researchers, from Monash University, Deakin University and the University of Queensland, have partnered to provide important feedback for the program, which for the first time will provide cohesion across the country for teaching respectful relationships. Previously state and territory governments have run their own programs.
The Framework was established to guide schools in delivering age-appropriate, evidence-based content, with the Commonwealth providing $77.6m over five years to states, territories and non-government school sectors.
In developing the Framework, Monash University researchers conducted a national Rapid Review Survey to identify how primary and secondary schools are delivering RRE.
Dr Naomi Pfitzner, one of the lead researchers of the review, and Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Hub, says the survey demonstrates the necessity of equipping teachers with the knowledge and skills to confidently educate students about respectful relationships.
“Preventing violence needs to start early and schools are uniquely placed to equip students with the knowledge and skills to build positive and equal relationships,” Pfitzner says.
“Teachers are shouldering the bulk of responsibility for delivering this type of education, yet many are doing so without the training and resources they need.
“Realising the vision of the Framework requires a significant investment in professional learning – so that every child in Australia receives [an education in this area that is] high-quality, evidence-based.”
The Framework states that RRE provides opportunities for children and young people to develop and reflect on knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours that relate to respectful, equal and safe relationships.
Dr Naomi Pfitzner says all school staff, not just teachers, needed a solid grounding on RRE. “Whole school approaches … are much more likely to achieve long-lasting attitude and behaviour change,” she says.
“It involves teaching students how to recognise and practise respect, develop personal and social skills, understand how gender norms and stereotypes can influence choices and actions, and take action to create equal and respectful communities,” it states.
“Importantly, RRE is not limited to teaching and learning under the Curriculum, but includes school policies, programs, practices and partnerships across whole-school communities, including with families.”
Pfitzner agrees and says all school staff, not just teachers, needed a solid grounding on the topic.
“Whole school approaches to respectful relationships education are much more likely to achieve long-lasting attitude and behaviour change,” she says.
Importantly, part of the Framework’s remit is to promote a clear and consistent national understanding of exactly what RRE involves.
The definition for RRE varies across jurisdictions and sectors, and so the Framework included a definition established by Our Watch and contained in a blueprint that the organisation released last year.
Our Watch is the nation’s leader in the primary prevention of violence against women and produced the blueprint to address the serious and pervasive problem of gendered violence in our schools.
It contained evidence-based solutions calling for stronger investment in RRE in Australian schools, outlining key issues such as AI-generated pornography, tech-facilitated abuse, sexual harassment of female teachers and students and sexualised bullying.
The blueprint outlined the urgency for governments to prioritise and fund a ‘whole-of-school’ approach to RRE rather than one-off programs or a few classroom lessons.
Pfitzner says her own research in 2022 found only two universities nationwide taught pre-service teachers how to deliver RRE.
“That really emphasises how important professional development learning is because it means we do have a large portion of the existing education workforce that may not have received the training they need,” she says.
The survey provides the most up to date national picture of how schools are delivering respectful relationships education, drawing on 182 responses from Government, independent and Catholic schools across metropolitan, regional, rural and remote communities.
Its findings show that the responsibility for delivering RRE lies predominantly within schools, with three quarters of the programs delivered by school staff.
Despite this, many teachers have not received professional learning and development around RRE and only one in five said their school has a comprehensive whole-of-school approach.
The survey also found that one third of participants adapted RRE programs to fit their school context and communities. Evaluation was the least commonly addressed aspect.
Associate Professor Emily Berger, from Monash’s Faculty of Education, leads the Trauma-Informed Education and Research Impact Lab, and says the findings reinforce the need to better support teachers on the front line.
“Teachers are deeply committed to fostering safe, respectful learning environments, but they cannot do this work alone,” Berger says.
“This national framework is a vital step in ensuring teachers have access to consistent guidance, evidence based resources and the professional learning needed to deliver respectful relationships education with confidence.”
The researchers welcome the Framework and the inclusion of RRE in the new national curriculum, but emphasised the need for sustained funding to continually evaluate its implementation and effectiveness.
“It’s great to have a framework with strong policy ambitions, but we need the investment to deliver this framework and that investment needs to be sustained,” Pfitzner says.
The survey also stressed that while RRE is now mandated, teacher training is not – a critical gap in delivering on the Government’s ambition to end gender-based violence in one generation.
Victoria has just announced Paul Edbrooke MP as Minister for Men and Boys, the first role of its kind in Australia, and an acknowledgement that earlier identification of harmful attitudes and behaviour, and direct engagement with boys and men, is key to ending family violence in that state.
Pfitzner said last month that the new portfolio offers an opportunity to equip boys and young men with the resilience to reject ‘manosphere’ narratives.
“If the Victorian Government wants all children and young people to live lives free from violence, we must challenge and disrupt traditional gender roles and stereotypes at every age,” Pfitzner said.
