More than 1,950 Victorian schools have signed on to create a culture of gender equality and respect in their school community by implementing the Respectful Relationships whole school approach, as recommended by the Royal Commission into Family Violence. This includes all government schools.
A Project Lead and Liaison Officer are helping to build the capacity of schools and early childhood educators working in government-funded kindergartens to implement the Respectful Relationships initiative in each of the Department of Education and Training's (DET) 17 Area teams.
The Victorian Curriculum provides the basis for teaching and learning about respectful relationships and identifies the knowledge, skills and understanding for students to be able to engage in respectful relationships. DET supports schools to deliver this curriculum through the optional Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships and Building Respectful Relationships teaching and learning materials, developed by education experts. These age-appropriate resources help students learn and practice social skills and apply them in a positive way to learning, life and relationships.
The Respectful Relationships initiative also includes professional learning to strengthen the capacity of up to 7,700 early childhood educators in Victorian Government-funded kindergarten programs to promote respectful relationships, positive attitudes and behaviours within their integrated teaching approach, to enable children to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence.
The 2020-21 State Budget invested $37.5 million to continue the Respectful Relationships initiative for a further 4 years.