Holistic and age-appropriate consent education will be taught in every Australian school from 2023 following unanimous agreement from the nation’s education ministers.
The curriculum will be taught to students from Kindergarten to Year 10 and include a number of topics that have been lacking in sex education, such as information about power imbalances, gendered stereotypes and coercion.
Studies show one in three Australian women (34.2%) have experienced physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by a man since the age of 15. However, when it comes to educating our young about this important issue, experts say more needs to be done.
To help address this issue in schools, former Sydney student, Chanel Contos, launched a petition called ‘Teach Us Consent’, which has received thousands of testimonies and tens of thousands of signatures from survivors of sexual abuse across Australia.
In a post shared on Instagram yesterday, Contos celebrated the landmark decision.
“This monumental change has only been made possible because of the tens of thousands of voices that have supported this movement,” she wrote.
"We did it."
Education ministers will meet in April to finalise the new curriculum.