industry & reform
Young people need our help to contextualise what they see online and build their critical thinking skills .
Separating fact from fiction
Why topics like consent and relationships are just as important as Maths and English .
By Delvene Neilson
Teaching young people how to have respectful relationships is one of the most important things we can do as educators . But without a comprehensive understanding and nuanced approach to the issue , conversations around consent , respect and relationships can become fraught with apprehension and misunderstanding .
Educators are in a unique position of being able to facilitate these often challenging conversations with their students . Teaching students about these issues shouldn ’ t be difficult , but up until now , the educational response has been filled with overbearing metaphors and unnecessary allegory .
Clearly , there ’ s a need for a shakeup . Sexual assault is a major health and welfare issue in Australia , with almost 2 million Australian adults experiencing at least one sexual assault since the age of 15 . Acts of ‘ revenge porn ’ against minors in Australia are now in the thousands , and while legislation has been introduced to criminalise this act in every state ( apart from Tasmania ), they have done little to reduce instances of online image abuse .
Earlier this year , Sydneysider Chanel Contos kickstarted a nationwide reckoning on consent education , after an Instagram poll snowballed in a national conversation around how we teach children about consent .
Over 6,000 testimonies have since been sent to Chanel by those who ‘ passionately believe that inadequate consent education is the reason for their sexual abuse during or soon after school ’. Contos ’ petition for consent to be included in Australian schools ’ sex education from an earlier age has gathered more than 40,000 signatures .
Thankfully , Chanel ’ s petition and others like it have amounted to a growing awareness of the need for change . In response to the campaign , schools are acknowledging that more must be done to help educate students about consent , respectful relationships , boundaries and equality . As evidence of the shift , videos that feature the terms ‘ gender ’, ‘ consent ’, ‘ sexual harassment ’ and ‘ respectful relationships ’ have increased 64.36 per cent year on year on ClickView ’ s platform .
Part of the solution will involve teaching students the skills required to sort fact from fiction , including understanding reality versus pornography . Parents and teachers might not want to believe it , but stats show a staggering 70 per cent of children aged 7-18 years old have accidentally encountered pornographic material online , often through a web search while doing homework .
Unfortunately , porn has become a default source of sex education for many young adults . Unless educators can step in and provide a better solution , pupils will continue to learn lessons from pornography that may prove difficult to unlearn . Discussing pornography openly and honestly can be one of the most important things we do as educators to help young people navigate their way into adulthood . Young people need our help to contextualise what they see online and build their critical thinking skills .
These critical thinking skills go beyond the world of pornography and can help in other areas of our pupils ’ lives , too . In a world where fake news is high on the agenda , teaching pupils to understand the reality of the world around them is more important than ever before .
Building a strong emotional intelligence will help prepare children for the human economy of tomorrow . During the industrial revolution , people were hired because of their hands . In the knowledge economy , they were hired because of their brains . In the future global economy , our kids will be hired because of their hearts . Teaching students to regulate their emotions , communicate with others , build relationships and use compassion and empathy to understand the needs of others will be paramount in their development . ■
Delvene Neilson is an experienced educator and the head of customer success at ClickView , an online education company that provides schools , colleges and universities with curriculum-aligned video resources . educationreview . com . au | 11