NSW schoolkids as young as 11 taught to seek consent before sex

Schoolkids as young as 11 will be taught to proactively seek and give consent before any sexual activity in an overhaul of the state’s physical education and health curriculum. Here’s what it means for your kids.

Schoolkids as young as 11 will be taught to proactively seek and give consent before relations with any sexual partner, in the latest overhaul of the state’s physical education and health curriculum.

From 2027 every student will learn consent is freely given, reversible, informed, specific and affirmative, from their first year of high school.

New sex ed lessons will adopt the legal definition of consent, including that it can be “must be actively communicated by words or actions by both parties”, “can be revoked at any time”, and that there can be no consent if the person is unconscious, asleep, or affected by drugs and alcohol.

Year 7 and 8 students will “investigate” NSW law and describe how consent creates “safe and positive experiences within intimate and sexual relationships”. They’ll also learn “skills and strategies to gain, give or deny consent … assertively and respectfully”.

In Year 9 and 10, students will “discuss how the portrayal of sexuality and sexual health in the media and online content may influence people’s attitudes” toward relationships, amid the rise of misogynistic ‘manfluencers’ and exposure to porn.

Male influencers like Andrew Tate have attracted controversy for their misogynistic attitudes.

The new syllabus also explicitly tackles “unrealistic perceptions of safe and consensual sex that may be represented in pornography and online sexually explicit material”.

In the Sutherland Shire, Lucas Heights Community School PE teacher Damian Bourke said the new content is not only a matter of what teenagers need to know, but what they want to know.

“These are the topics that students talk about … ‘what is the age of consent? How do you give consent?’ – these are all things that students want to learn,” he said.

Lessons will involve “tangible examples”, Mr Bourke said, including group discussions, written examples and video clips, or scenarios acted out by the students themselves.

“They need to understand that consent is so much more than a verbal statement of saying yes or no – they need to dive deep into it, and that’s what this syllabus is allowing us to do,” he said.

His Year 9 students Marli Di Cesare and Jethro Dillon-Smith hope broaching the topic at school will help protect future students against abuse later in life, with consent currently “not talked about as much as it should be” outside the classroom.

Lucas Heights Community School PDHPE teacher Erika Glas with Year 9 students, Jack Phillips, Marli Di Cesare, Damian Bourke, Erika Glas and Jethro Dillon-Smith, Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“Sometimes school is an easier place to talk about (consent) – for some people they can talk to a parent or someone they’re close to, but a teacher can provide a different way of understanding it,” Jethro said.

“If we didn’t cover it in schools then later on people wouldn’t know what consent is, and other people can then manipulate them,” Marli added.

Sexual consent campaigner Chanel Contos said the new syllabus is an “extremely important” development and its specificity is a welcome improvement “on paper” – providing those who teach it are well-trained and prepared to answer tough questions.

Chanel Contos, founder of Teach Us Consent and Chair of The Global Institute for Women's Leadership's Youth Advisory Committee. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“I really welcome this update, and I feel really proud and elated for the 50,000 people who signed a petition calling for better consent education,” she said.

While the syllabus is mandatory, religious schools will be allowed to teach it the way they see fit – “in a manner reflective of their school contexts and ethos”.

Catholic Schools NSW CEO Dallas McInerney says Catholic schools will teach consent alongside abstinence before marriage. Picture: Supplied

“Abstinence and the sanctity of sexual relations inside marriage is something that we would couple with our delivery of this curriculum,” Catholic Schools NSW CEO Dallas McInerney said.

The new PDHPE curriculum also includes lessons on digital privacy, the risks of addiction to gambling and vaping, and strategies to combat cyber-bullying, which Education Minister Prue Car said will ensure all students have “the knowledge and skills to protect themselves and respect the boundaries of people around them”.

“We need teachers to be equipped with age-appropriate, evidence-based content that aligns with community expectations. This new PDHPE syllabus does that,” she said.