2015 SRE for Students with Special Educational Needs Symposium

Dates

19 August, 2015

Overview

A symposium dedicated to sexuality and relationships education (SRE) for students with special educational needs, was recently organised and facilitated by Curtin University. Over 150 teachers, community school nurses and a wide range of other individuals and organisations working in this area participated in this specialised event.

Participants were met with an engaging resources expo presented by a number of agencies including the WA Department of Health, WA Department of Education (SSEN-D), SECCA, People First Programme (PIP) and Safe 4 Kids. The morning program included a keynote presentation from three members of the Youth Disability Advocacy Network (Y-DAN) who bravely shared their experiences of sexuality education whilst living with a disability. Various support agencies available to WA schools and the GDHR website were also showcased. A ‘Stories From the Field’ session enabled delegates to hear from their peers who are working in this very challenging area. The afternoon workshops provided delegates with lots of practical ideas to teach biological concepts; social and emotional concepts; and protective behaviour concepts to students. The final session was a webinar presentation from the Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT on how to teach online safety inclusively.

We thank all the delegates who made a special effort to leave their classrooms and workplaces for the day to network with us; and to all the speakers for their very engaging presentations. There was a definite buzz in the room that we need to continue to support this sector – so please watch this space for more professional learning opportunities!

Program: