The real problem with sex ed

By Greg Cudmore
Community contribution / September 27, 2017

A recent Deakin University Engaging Young People in Sexuality Education project revealed that for a range of reasons – lack of comfort, lack of professional learning – what teachers are covering in sexuality education is not necessarily what young people want to learn about.

This conclusion implies that if we get teachers to smarten-up their act and receive appropriate professional development, effective sex education ...

SEN Teaching Assistant/Unqualified SEN Teaching Assistant

Veritas Chorley

Teaching Aides & Special Needs / Feb 25, 2026

SEN Teaching Assistant/Unqualified SEN Teaching Assistant

Veritas Preston

Teaching Aides & Special Needs / Feb 25, 2026

Vocational SEN Teacher

Veritas Burnley

Teaching Aides & Special Needs / Feb 25, 2026

By Greg Cudmore

Community

Greg Cudmore is a retired teacher with 45 years experience working in Australian Schools. He recently published 'Even More Elephants in our Classrooms (2026) ' (amazon.com), the third in his 'Elephants in the Classroom' trilogy, which critiques contemporary Australian education, a primer for aspiring and practising teachers and for those, like Mark Twain, who never let schooling interfere with their education.

Latest comments

And if we wait for a child who is entering Foundation in 2026 and don't approach climate change as a topic until they...

— Anne Vize on Our Tokenistic Sustainability Education Is Missing The Mark: Peak Science Associations

Top events

Very serious social problems such as domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment and homophobia have their genesis in an education system that fails to attack in-grained cultural attitudes about human sexuality.

— Greg Cudmore

School news / Kids’ as young as 10 to be fitted with ankle bracelets, Qld police not impressed

Police and youth advocates are querying whether new state laws that will see children as young as 10 fitted with ankle bracelets are workable.

School news / Embed literacy instruction into PDHPE for incredible results: leading educator

Literacy and the explicit teaching of writing skills ought to be a focus of all PDHPE teachers’ practice and not left solely to English departments to handle, a leading educator has said.

School news / Gift to help educators teach maths with ‘confidence, clarity and impact’

A Melbourne university has received a $2.5 million gift to “use its foundations in evidence-based learning to help address Australia’s mathematics crisis”.

School news / Identifying children at risk of speech disorders to be made easier: new resource

A new tool for identifying children at risk of speech disorders has been developed by Melbourne researchers, reducing unnecessary treatment for common speech errors that often resolve on their own.

School news / ‘Improved behaviour across the board’: student leadership program sees huge results

Primary school children given the chance to teach their younger peers are showing remarkable improvements in their confidence, class work and mental health.

School news / Award-winning Vic school reveals what it takes to extend gifted students

High-ability students can expect to be thoroughly challenged in their learning when they come to Heathmont East Primary School.

School news / The urgency and promise of lifting STEM ed in non-metro NSW: research

STEM education in regional NSW schools offers actionable policy opportunities that recognise and leverage the unique strengths of non-metropolitan NSW, new research has found.

School news / Half of nation’s teens projected to face anxiety or depression, ‘crucial we act on evidence’

A generation of young Australians is at risk of experiencing a mental health crisis, according to new modelling.

School news / ‘We don’t talk about that in this class’: History teachers at risk with new hate speech laws

NSW history teachers are fearful about what the state’s new hate speech laws will mean for their practice, with one expert warning critical knowledge and discussion about the Holocaust is at risk of being silenced in the classroom.

School news / ‘Literacy underlies all achievement’: popular author Andy Griffiths speaks out

A “ridiculous” emphasis on testing and grading is totally antithetical to the business of creativity and genuine learning, our Australian Children’s Laureate for 2026 and 2027 says.

The real problem with sex ed

Comments

EducationID

Our services

Ad centre