2021 Growing and developing healthy relationships: from shared knowledge to collective action

Organisers

Dates

25 June 2021

Location

Curtin University Bentley, Perth WA

Overview

Find all of the 2021 GDHR Symposium recordings here or watch below

The Curtin University RSE Project held their biennial Symposium on Friday, June 25th titled: Growing and Developing Healthy Relationships 2021: from shared knowledge to collective action.

The specialised event engaged delegates from all over Australia, as the Symposium was livestreamed online for the very first time. Over 140 teachers, school nurses, pre-service teaches, school psychologists, law enforcement officers, sexual health sector representatives, principals, and more attended the event online and in-person. This year’s theme was ‘From shared knowledge to collective action’ which acknowledges the many facets of sexuality and relationships, and how people from different backgrounds can share their knowledge to collectively drive action in this space.

The day kicked-off with a keynote address from Professor Louisa Allen, an eminent researcher known for her work on young people, sexualities, and school culture research. Louisa was livestreamed from New Zealand, and her presentation titled: Young People, Sexuality Education and Pleasure, and was a humorous and thought provoking look at how the school setting impacts young people’s understanding of relationships and sexuality.

The keynote address was followed by a panel discussion featuring four young people from diverse backgrounds, who discussed their experiences of RSE during school.

Throughout the breaks, delegates were also treated to a showcase of agencies in the RSE sector, who provided resources and information to help support attendees with their teachings and knowledge of RSE. The agencies included WA Department of Health, Sexual Health Quarters, Sexuality Education Consultancy Agency (SECCA), PB West, ySafe, Legal Aid WA, eSafe Kids, Starick and WA Child Safety Services.

A session titled Stories from the field was held after morning tea, where delegates heard from school staff about real life approaches to RSE and successes to the vast array of challenges that educators face. The session wrapped up with four students from St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls, presenting a project that they had developed about respectful relationships and online safety for their peers.

In the afternoon, delegates participated in two professional development workshops. Delegates were spoilt for choice with workshop topics on a variety of the subjects including Male relationships; Navigating sex and relationships online; Consent and healthy relationships; Sexting, consent, pornography and the law; Protective behaviours, Practice and process in the primary classroom; Relationship tree (Respectful Relationships), Including students with disabilities in your RSE; Sex, drugs and alcohol; Creating LGBTQIA+ inclusive classrooms; and, The language of friendship for primary school classrooms.

The RSE Project wish to thank all the delegates who made a special effort to leave their classrooms and workplaces for a day of fun, learning and networking; and to all the speakers for their highly engaging presentations. We look forward to continuing to offer professional learning opportunities to further support you all, as you play a valuable role in helping our youth to grow and develop healthy relationships.