All NSW schools will be adding domestic violence education to their Years 7 -10 Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) syllabus from the beginning of 2016.
The new syllabus will explicitly include lessons on domestic violence prevention, strengthening existing opportunities for students to learn about positive relationships and leading safe and healthy lives.
Minister for Education Adrian Piccoli announced that young people will soon be empowered with the knowledge, understanding and skills to help prevent domestic violence.
Three months ago Rachel* wrote a letter to the NSW government only weeks after her mother’s suicide asking them to ‘educate children about domestic violence and how to seek help’. The 14-year-old, in an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Premier Mike Baird, wrote that she had spent years feeling alone in her struggles with domestic violence, not realising that her home life wasn’t the norm.
Rachel’s letter included accounts from other school-aged children of their experiences with domestic violence, adding that if domestic violence had been addressed within educational criteria, maybe their lives would be different and maybe Rachel could have ‘saved’ her mother.
PDHPE contributes significantly to the cognitive, social, emotional, physical and spiritual development of students and therefore is the best platform for the introduction of domestic violence education. The subject provides an opportunity for young people to explore issues that are likely to impact on the health and well-being of themselves and others, now and in the future.
Following consultation with numerous groups including the Department of Education, Association of Independent Schools (AISNSW) and Catholic Education Commission (CEC) the amendments to the 7-10 PDHPE syllabuses were approved by the BOSTES at the end of last month.
Not only will this new syllabus open up a dialogue for young people who may have encountered domestic violence but it will also provide a significant opportunity for young people to identify, report and protect themselves and others from abuse.
A detailed update of the PDHPE Years 7-10 syllabus will be published later in Term 3.
Pru Goward was appointed Australia’s first Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault in April this year, and she made the announcement about the new syllabus with the NSW Education Minister.
Ms Goward has stressed the need for more preventative measures for domestic violence rather than merely managing its after effects. She has said that while changes to the law are helpful, they are little comfort to victims and families who have already lost a loved one.
Of the new syllabus, Ms Goward said that ‘this is a great step, but only one step on this journey, there is certainly more to be done…I think the government can do this and I know we can, and we will, if we do it together.’
Australian of the Year Rosie Batty became an active campaigner for domestic violence awareness after her 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his father in 2014.
She attended this week’s Council of Australian Governments meeting to ask all State and Territory leaders to commit to delivering compulsory domestic violence prevention lessons. Ms Batty told News.com that it is essential that children of all ages, in all schools, be taught the importance of respectful relationships. She said that ‘schools can play a central role in teaching young people what violence against women and children looks like and that it is never okay.’
While NSW and Victoria are making ‘good strides’ in cementing domestic violence awareness within their syllabuses and budgets, Ms Batty has said that there is much more that needs to be done.Leaders from other States and Territories at the COAG meeting have said that they are looking to make similar changes in the coming year.
Federal Education Minister, Christopher Pyne has rejected the push to have specific domestic violence lessons in school classrooms nationally, saying that existing ‘respectful relationship’ classes within the PDHPE syllabuses are sufficient.
NSW will be the first jurisdiction to introduce lessons in schools that are specifically about domestic violence. Schools should keep an eye out for the release of the updated syllabus this term and familiarise their staff with its content.
New syllabus material is always big news for schools and this change may also prompt more general education in schools about their students’ ability to confide in teachers and school psychologists or counsellors about their home life.
With these new changes providing a more open and safe environment to discuss sensitive issues such as violence in the home, it is important for schools to remember their reporting obligations under child protection laws if students disclose information that may lead a staff member to believe they are a victim of sexual, physical, emotional abuse or neglect.
*Rachel is not the girl’s real name