New fertility education plan in Victorian schools

Victorian children as young as nine will be taught “sometimes it takes three to make a baby” under new teaching ­resources from fertility experts and family planning groups.

Victorian children from year 3 will be taught “sometimes it takes three to make a baby” under new teaching ­resources released tomorrow by fertility experts and family planning groups.

The classroom teaching modules will transform the way sexual and reproductive health is taught in schools, ­providing information about infertility as well as the ­different ways families are made through assisted ­reproduction techniques.

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They are designed to ­normalise assisted reproduction and donor conception so children understand there are many ways to make a baby.

The resources will help teach children to think about their future fertility.

Existing sexual education resources focus much more on biology and standard conception, including a focus on how not to get pregnant.

The new resources, funded by the state government, aim to get children as young as nine thinking about their ­future fertility as well as ­diverse families such as same-sex families, donor families and IVF families.

It is billed as “sex-positive, accurate and non-judgmental information” which is “inclusive of different sexualities, genders, cultures and ways of living”.

Classes on basic conception will include lessons on assisted reproductive treatment and surrogacy. By year 5, suggested lesson plans include “Dear Fertility Doctor” letters signed by “Cuddly” who is 20kg overweight and “Smokin’ Sally” who smokes. By year 9, the focus is fertility optimisation.

Bonnie Lee, manager of the schools team at Family Planning Victoria, said: “When we think of sexual and reproductive health education in schools, we typically imagine students learning about ­sexually transmitted infections and how not to get pregnant.

“And while these are still ­really important subjects, ­students also need to understand about their fertility and the factors that may affect it — in particular, when they are ready to start a family.

“Around 5 per cent of children born in Australia in 2016 were conceived as a result of assisted reproductive treatment. These resources will help children understand that there can be many ways to make a baby, and that there are many different ways that families are created,” she said.

The package, developed by Family Planning Victoria, Your Fertility, and the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority, includes an online learning portal for teachers with videos, fact sheets and other resources.

Parents will be given the choice to withdraw their children from the classes.