Promoting better relationship education

GGHS sex education workshop - Pam Bell (police community officer) , Caitlin Candy , Kate Barwick , Journie Barbarich , Kay Campbell (Harekeke Family Harm) Pamela Albert (probation officer community corrections) , Shelly hunt (GGHS teacher)

A WORKSHOP promoting healthy relationships at Gisborne Girls’ High School was timely, after a petition was handed to Parliament calling for better, more consistent sex education in secondary schools.

The Loves-Me-Not programme is designed to promote healthy relationships and develop strategies to be assertive, and includes a full-day workshop open to all Year 12 students. The students were also given strategies to support others who might be at risk in an unhealthy relationship.

The programme was created by the Sophie Elliott Foundation in partnership with the New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Social Development, with the aim of lowering the levels of domestic violence through education.

Loves-Me-Not uses a whole school approach and a one-day workshop for Year 12 students to explore healthy relationships and the sometimes-difficult subject of relationship abuse and consent.

Following the death of Sophie Elliott at the hands of her former boyfriend Clayton Weatherston, it became clear that she had been in a typically abusive relationship. It was also evident that neither Sophie nor her mother Lesley had been able to see where things were going wrong. The conclusion was that if these two intelligent adults could not see the signs, then many others would be in the same situation.

A GGHS Year 12 health class was involved in the planning and preparation of the workshop and attended training with teachers and the NZ Police and NGOs beforehand.

Student Caitlin Candy said they chose the subject of abuse for their health-promoting action project.

“There’s not much education about abuse. We wanted to make more people aware of it and learn how to identify the signs.”

Healthy caring relationshipsStudent Kate Barwick helped to organise the day and said the workshop started by looking at what made a healthy caring relationship.

Over the course of the day, they explored the qualities of good relationships and how to recognise early signs of relationship abuse. The workshop also addressed what is meant by sexual consent and why they need it.

The final stage of the project is for the class to make a written submission to the principal and the board of trustees to make Loves-Me-Not a yearly event on the school calendar.

They have received a lot of positive feedback from the students who attended and said having representatives from the police and NGOs such as Corrections and Family Harm involved added to the success of the day.

The programme provided resources such as videos and interactive activites and each student received a copy of the book Loves Me Not by Lesley Elliott.

Gisborne Girls’ High head of health and PE Shelley Hunt said New Zealand teenagers were often not provided with effective health and sexuality education lessons, so the Loves-Me-Not programme helped address that.

Sexuality education is a compulsory part of the health and physical education curriculum, which schools must deliver in Years 1 to 10. Schools are expected to follow the guidance issued in 2015, which spelt out in detail what should be covered by sexuality education. For secondary schools, that detail sets out a clear pathway through topics that include consent, coercion and sexual violence.

“For effective sexuality education it is vital that students are taught throughout their school years from 1-13 so they understand the qualities of healthy relationships and the skills to manage these. This is achieved by moving from friendships through to intimate sexual relationships as they develop maturity,” said Mrs Hunt.

“If students are taught relationship skills such as assertiveness, critical thinking about the rights and responsibilities in healthy relationships, consent will be a topic discussed. It is not effective to offer only consent education, as it becomes fear-based and this is not acknowledging that the majority of students treat each other in a respectful manner.”