Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ)
Young people are navigating their romantic and sexual lives in an increasingly complex world.
Social media content, including from misogynistic influencers, have contributed to rapidly changing norms around gender, sex and relationships.
Recent Australian research has found concerning rates of unwanted, forced or coerced sex and intimate partner violence among young people, including adolescents as young as 14.
At the same time, many young people find the relationships and sexuality education they’ve received is inconsistent, unconvincing or disconnected from the realities of their lives.
We surveyed 482 teachers working across government, Catholic and independent schools who deliver relationship and sexuality education and found they often feel ill-equipped to deliver lessons on sex, consent and respectful relationships.
Teachers feel unprepared and under-supported
In previous generations, sex education focused on biology. Today, a more comprehensive approach is taken. Relationships and sexuality education encompasses sexual and reproductive health, respectful relationships and consent education.
Our study examined the training and support needs of Australian teachers and student (pre-service) teachers who deliver relationships and sexuality education.
More than two thirds (around 67%) of teachers reported receiving no university classes on how to teach relationships and sexuality education.
Most (77%) said their university preparation left them poorly equipped to teach these topics.
Professional development after entering the workforce was also inconsistent. Nearly half (43%) said they still required additional training.
Half (50%) reported their school did not allocate adequate time or funding for professional development in relationships and sexuality education. Less than half (39%) felt they had sufficient time for lesson planning.
Overall, teachers viewed relationships and sexuality education positively. Most believed:
- their school leadership team valued relationships and sexuality education (72%)
- parents were supportive (60%)
- students generally felt comfortable engaging with it (65%).
However, this support was not always matched by practical resources.
Teachers who received dedicated in-service training and sufficient preparation time, and felt supported by their school administration, said they were significantly more comfortable to deliver relationships and sexuality education.
This is important, as around 60% of teachers worried about negative reactions from parents, saying the wrong thing during lessons or how to respond to student disclosures of experiencing sexual violence.
Many teachers were also uncomfortable delivering education on challenging or sensitive topics, including pornography, abortion or sexual violence.
What do students say they want?
Across multiple studies, young people report they want:
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more support to navigate romantic and sexual relationships
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meaningful education about the emotional complexities of relationships, how to communicate with a partner and how to express needs and boundaries in sexual relationships
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more relevant critical education on pornography.
Young people also want education on the practical realities of sex. They want to know more about what to expect and what to prepare for.
They also want education that is inclusive of diversity in gender, sexuality and bodies.
Consent education aims to reduce sexual violence
Mandatory consent education was introduced in 2023 in response to sexual consent advocate Chanel Contos’ Teach Us Consent campaign. This drew national attention to young women’s experiences of sexual violence and highlighted inadequacies in current education.
Australia has now made sexual consent education a national priority, with federal, state and territory governments making a committment in 2022 as part of national efforts to address sexual and gender-based violence.
Schools are key in preventing sexual and gender-based violence: they’re one of the few institutions that reaches almost all young people.
Consent and respectful relationships sit within the broader relationships and sexuality education curriculum, which also includes education on sexual and reproductive health, sexuality and gender.
Relationships and sexuality education provides a platform to engage with young people during the years when they are likely exploring romantic and sexual relationships for the first time.
The purpose isn’t only to teach young people legal definitions of consent or the basics of safe sex. When done well, it helps to shape school culture, and reduces misogynist and harmful attitudes and behaviours in the school community.
What should happen next?
Relationships and sexuality education should provide opportunities for young people to engage critically with issues such as sexual ethics, gender stereotypes, power in relationships and the complexities of coercion.
These are complex and sensitive topics that require skilled teaching.
Our research suggests that effective and sustainable relationships and sexuality education will be most effective if teachers:
- are given dedicated professional training
- have access to evidence-based curriculum resources
- have opportunities to work collaboratively with other staff, including school-based adolescent health nurses, wellbeing teams and external specialist educators.
Schools should be supported to develop a whole-school approach to relationships and sexuality education, in which school leadership is engaged and all staff have some capacity to respond to issues relating to consent, respectful relationships and sexual wellbeing.
To make a sustained difference in the lives of young people, we need a nationally coordinated approach to relationships and sexuality. Better support for teachers and schools to deliver this is crucial.
Jennifer Power receives funding from The Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and the Australian Research Council.
Lily Moor receives funding from The Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and the Australian Research Council.
Original source: https://analysis1.mil-osi.com/2026/07/27/teens-want-more-advice-about-navigating-consent-but-teachers-sex-ed-skills-are-falling-short/